[edited: july 1 ;; updated dec 2022 because of, okay you already know let me not do this again]
If you were to think of Southeast Asian culture, you might be landing on the food industry at one point.
They are astonishing, sometimes even full of colors! It depends whether you eat it with a spoon (and fork) or with an actual hand, the food out there are just so delicious.
Take Laos for example. It's Laap is literal butchered meat, spices and vegetables together. They go good together apparently, which is a really neat sound to hear.
However, ASEAN is, you may know already, economy based. Some of its economy relies on tourism and cuisine, sure, but he himself never had a chance to cook in his entire life. If told to be handling a kitchen, he literally couldn't.
It was five in the morning. The organization just woke up from his vacation hut, boiling some water in the kettle. He had been in that hut for a while now, it was a little gift from Singapore and Brunei for him to "take a rest" after a mountain of paperwork. Although he was truly a workaholic, he literally couldn't turn down an offer like so, especially when it was given on a summer.
Where was the hut? It's in Thailand. The two small countries actually agreed with her to settle their "boss" in that country for a little, it was placed in a small, port town. Myanmar and Laos also decided to hang out in Thailand for a bit as well, just for purposes.
The southeast asian went to a nearby wooden chair, sat down, and checked if anything happened when he was asleep with his phone. Apparently there was some killings somewhere in Malaysia, but it wasn't his problem to deal with.... And that was all of the news.
Extremely early mornings are usually quiet, well as expected because some people are still sleeping around you. It would be very cold as well, as some shivers can pop up every now and then.
As the kettle finally started squealing, he started to make some coffee for himself, not from the powder but from the coffee beans immediately. After that, it was all settled, 5:48am.
He decided to sit by the window to see the sunrise, luckily the hut was placed on the spot near the sea and the sun would start off from there. Sure there were some distractions like random boats and other things, that didn't bother him at all. As long as he wasn't called out for and distracted-
Ring! Ring!
-There goes his peace.
He stared at his phone for a little bit before picking it up, reading the contact that called him.
Myanmar.
What do he want in 6 in the morning?
Although they usually aren't seen together in the family and often goes unnoticed, Myanmar was pretty peculiar in terms of being in the organization. Their flag color extinguished them from the rest of the group, despite being it rules by the military. This made ASEAN himself really proud of them, even if his government may go over the edge. [[dec 2022 edit: GOD this didn't age well]]
He picked up the phone then answered the phone, immediately calling his name.
"Myanmar?" he called, with his usual morning, natural, and croaky voice.
"ASEAN!" He answered from the other line. "[Good morning!]! How's your mini vacation?"
"Great... I 'uppose," he muttered on the phone, then took a sip off his coffee he brewed himself. "Why'd call?"
"O- oh yeah! Laos and I have been deciding that we would cook something together... I don't know if it would you know, catch your interest but... I think it's s- something we should try out?" Myanmar asked, with a little stuttering on his words. It was the phone connection's fault on why he appeared to be stuttering.
The organization thought of it for a while. He hasn't hanged out with Laos and Myanmar lately, and he actually had free time for once. And kitchen? He hasn't touched a kitchen. He din't think that he had a busy day as well. Maybe it could be worth a shot.
He answered, "Yeah, I guess that sounds good... Where are we meeting?"
"You're going?! Neat!" He stated, followed by a bunch of claps on the other line. "T- Thailand told us we can use the kitchen she had near her park, so I guess that's where we are meeting up."
He looked over the window. Thailand's park wasn't actually too far from where he was. He then answered, "Sounds good, seems like a few minutes walk from where I am... What about the ingredients and stuff?"
"Yeah, I prepared them! Laos, still asleep, is kind of in charge for this thing, I just asked you if you had time to go, you know?" The other line chuckled. "Alright, I need to go now, still need to do something else unrelated to this. Meet you by 11."
"Mhm! See you two later," he stated, as the call ended from the other line.
He looked at the window once more and stared at the waters. He sighed, and decided to get up from his seat, to mentally prepare himself for the next few hours.
---
Quite immediately, Laos recognized his technical father from a distance. He dragged him right towards an establishment near "Thailand's park".
Laos was one of his members that were really poor, yet trying to catch up with the other members. He wasn't given that much spotlight, he was really a person that has a spirit of climbing up the ranks, yet still doesn't know yet.
Laos actually dragged him into a Thai kitchen. It had a stove, an oven, a place where you can cut-literally everything! The ingredients were halfly prepared when ASEAN arrived.
It seemed like they had been planning this for a while now.
He was told to sit down on a deep brown, wooden chair. It wasn't long after that Myanmar came with some ingredients and placed them on the counter.
He pulled out a piece of paper, presumably a list, and read it silently. As he pulled it down, they noticed ASEAN staring around the area.
"ASEAN!" Myanmar greeted. "How long have you been there? A- I didn't notice you here..."
"Lao dragged me here," he stated with a slightly tired voice. "Just got here technically."
"Erm, you don't really have to come here to be honest," he stated, folding the paper and placing it in their hoodie pocket. "This was just a fun thing we planned to begin with."
"No! It's fine really," he sighed. "I just forgot to help out Thailand yesterday morning with the rice field, which is a shame."
Laos appeared on the door, dragging a sack of rice towards the area. "Don't worry about it, remember you're in a break- argh." -He drops the sack into the side of the counter.- "You really work hard for us, kind of wished we had some fun once in a while."
"Mhm," Myanmar agreed, leaning his elbow on the lavatory. "I mean, you did kind of accepted the offer... So why not?"
The association sighed, it won't be too bad if there's something else to do for once, right?
He spoke out, "Erm, sure. Do your thing."
"Do our thing?!" Laos emphasized. "Daaad, we literally told you to come to do this with-"
"Fine! Fine." ASEAN stood up, interrupting the country's statement. "I'll do this with you. How does that sound?"
"Sounds... Good," the other country stated, before pulling out another piece of paper in their pocket, and scanning it for a little. He knows that he's really nervous whether he changes his mind real quickly
He notices their expressions and the atmosphere and stated, "I apologize if I scared you both."
"It's all good!" Laos smiled. "Sooo, Myanmar? What's going on with the list- what we doin'?"
"It's okay, southeast," he muttered, as he pointed his finger across the paper. "Right- we're going to do the... Thai curry? How do you pronounce this...- May-sa-man?"
"Oh that? Massaman curry," the other country corrected. "It's a thing for Muslims I believe, for fasting stuff."
"Right! ASEAN, do you know this?" Myanmar asked, pulling down the paper to see him.
He shrugged. "I haven't really cooked before before this, so no... Kind of seen them on the papers though, that's all."
"Hmm, I haven't actually cooked them before too," Laos stated. "Maybe we can do this if we follow the instructions."
Myanmar chuckled. "If this kitchen gets burned down, I'll pay for it." It was clearly sarcastic, as they wouldn't think that some sort of accidents might happen anytime soon.
"Shut up," the organization playfully laughed. "Alright, what now?"