Deceiver: I headcanon Neil actually knows how to cook, while Eva doesn't.

Super short!

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Can I have a bit of sugar?

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"Have you preheated the oven yet?" Eva heard Neil asked behind her. "And did you heat it up properly? We don't want you burning up your cake like last time."

"Shut up, Neil. You can look yourself," she snapped at him, grumbling a bit as she gathered the rest of the ingredients and put them on the kitchen counter. She had no time to listen to his taunting words, and just wanted to focus on the task at hand. The next Christmas Party was a month away, and this time, Eva was determined to make a proper carrot cake for the occasion. She had failed too many times in the past, causing Neil to tease her about it nonstop since John's case.

If she wanted him to shut up, she had to make the perfect carrot cake.

But the irony was this.

She had to ask Neil for help.

It may come to a surprise to everyone if they knew this, but Neil was actually a competent cook. He may looked like someone who would order McDonalds and take outs all day, every day. But no, he actually cooked his own meals. Edible meals, in fact. From entrees to desserts, he could make anything. When Eva asked how he could be this good, all he said that he got inspired from a cooking anime series he watched.

And surprisingly, Eva was the one who couldn't cook. She could make a decent salad from the vegetables from her garden, but that was it. She would end up turning her food into some sort of goop, or set the entire pot on fire. She had to be extra careful with the carrot cakes she brought to Sigmund Corporation, by actually not make any obvious mistakes, yet it always end up looking delicious, yet it tasted disgusting.

Neil was the only one who ever finished the whole thing for her. And dammit, Eva hated his pity.

And thus, she needed his help. Help her make a delicious carrot cake before the next Christmas Party. Neil refused at first, but Eva gave him an offer he could not refuse.

"I'll call tomatoes vegetables for you."

"Deal."

And now, Eva began her work. She began by trying to measure everything she needed in the mixing bowl correctly and precisely. She even made sure to put all the ingredients into their own tiny bowls first as she did this.

Two cups of all-purpose flour here.

Two teaspoons of baking powder there.

One teaspoon of backing soda in this small bowl as well.

One and a-half teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

The sugar…

"Neil, can I have a bit of sugar?" Eva called over her shoulder as she kept her eyes on the recipe Neil gave her. She didn't want to skip over this bit, just in case she forgot about it and just cooked without it. That happened with the baking soda already, causing the cake without it to turn into not a carrot cake. But a cake made of rocks.

Her eyes still on the recipe, Eva waited for Neil to hand her over the bag of sugar and make her do the whole measuring thing herself. Yet nothing happened. Confused, she looked over at him. "Neil?"

Neil was standing behind her, wiggling a cube of sugar in his mouth as he waggled his eyebrows at her. Eva stared at him, at the sugar and at her partner, completely silent as he continued to act silly before her. He made no move to hand over the bag of sugar, so Eva just had to sigh and walk over to him. He was about to laugh it off, ready to hand over what she needed; but instead. Eva placed her hands on his shoulders before leaning in and took the sugar from his mouth with her own.

Neil was stunned silent as Eva easily dislodged the sugar cube between his lips with her tongue before pulling back and pop it into her mouth. She licked her lips a bit, a brow raised at him as she stared back.

"I meant brown sugar. That's what your recipe said, idiot," she told him once she swallowed the thing. Neil continued to stand there, not moving and completely silent as Eva just grinned at her own little victory before walking passed him to get the brown sugar she needed.

She may be a bad cook. But she was good at shutting Neil up when it was needed.