Still sick, but still writing! If you tried to review last chapter but couldn't, I've had some technical issues with my stats. Either that or you just don't like chat room scenes. Oh well, at least I got to write it before facebook killed them off altogether! Oh, and as to the one review that managed to get through, do they even have princes in Russia anymore?

Пища для Мысли

or

Food for Thought.

Ludwig eventually let go of Chester and left the boy to contact his friends to cancel the rescue. They left the door leaning against the wall in the hallway. And so the two left each other alone with his thoughts until morning came. Ludwig thought about telling the boy to go to bed around eleven, when he was going to bed, but he stayed silent, not wanting to push his luck.

So instead, he greeted the sullen Chester when he went downstairs to go to school with a smile and a stack of pancakes. Chester stared at the breakfast like they had a face. Which was technically true, but he still being rude. The chocolate chip smiley-faced pancakes grinned at him. Chester glared back.

"What is this?" Chester finally asked Ludwig, who was wearing, of all things, an apron. It was pink with daisies on it. Chester didn't even know they owned an apron.

The seven foot tall, muscular and apron wearing Russian was busy humming over the sink, washing the dishes. "I believe here it is called breakfast. Eat up!"

Chester raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought I already told you I'm immune to all poisons."

Ludwig saw his eyebrow raise, and raised him an eye roll. "Yes, and I told you that I don't want to kill you. Now, eat your panned cakes before they colden. You are very small for your age."

Chester sighed and took a small bite of 'panned cake.' Immediately his eyebrows raised themselves once more, out of surprise this time, and before he could stop himself his lips curved into a smile. Chester quickly forced himself to frown again, but the damage was done. Ludwig kept on watching, pretending not to notice Chester repeating the process until he finally gave up and let himself be embraced by the ambrosia known as Ludwig's cooking. ((Perhaps,)) Ludwig thought to himself, ((he does know how to smile after all…))

Chester finished and caught himself right before he asked if Ludwig could make another batch. He was about to grab his backpack and head out for school when Ludwig called out that strange Russian saying that he guessed was Ludwig's nickname for him. When he turned around he saw Ludwig holding a brown paper bag. "I have made you lunch for your school!"

Chester's first instincts were to just leave, but the delicious breakfast now being digested made him think twice. (Well,) Chester thought, taking the bag, (in for one meal, in for another.) It was very hard, even for a jaded soul like Chester, to argue with a good meal and a full stomach, especially when he rarely got either, at least one not from his friends or their parents.

And so, Chester left the house holding a brown paper bag, trying to remember the last time he had ever brought a lunch to school. Ludwig smiled, watching the young boy walk away. He knew that in no way did this absolve Chester's paranoia or anger towards him, but it was at least a start. "If you can learn that I can actually do something good, then perhaps you will realize that I am good as well…" Ludwig stated aloud, as soon as Chester was out of earshot.

PANCAKES! PANCAKES! PANCAKES! PANCAKES! PANCAKES! PANCAKES! WAFFLES! PANCAKES!

Chester's good mood lasted about half the walk to school. (What was I thinking? Taking food from a Chuck? If he thinks he can win me over with breakfast foods, he's wrong! He's evil, even if he does make admittedly delicious pancakes! Mmm, those were good pancakes… THE PANCAKES WERE EVIL TOO! … evil is delicious…)

Chester kept going through the same cycle of thought up until lunch, where he met up with his friends. Ty, Abby and Lab Rat, not to mention Chester himself, kept the same styles as they had three years ago, although for Ty not necessarily the stupid 'bad boy' outfit he was wearing that fateful Saturday and Abby wearing her regular day outfit of a purple sweater and a black skirt with black leggings. It was essentially the two girls that had changed their looks.

Kat still had her crazy hyper nature showing with her billions of braids with billions of different colors and the different shades and tints. But she showed also a more 'geeky girl' side to her as well, her wardrobe now full of ironic T-shirts and jeans, as well as seven sets of brightly colored sneakers. Her current T shirt had an arrow pointing up, but the sideways lettering said down. It was bright yellow.

Naomi had also turned to the geeky side, choosing to wear heavy framed glasses instead of the contacts from oh so long ago. /Screw the dark side and their cookies! The dork side has llamas! - A quote from another of Kat's T-shirts. / The green sweater and green-blue skirt looked nothing but popular, though, but Chester was still sure that Ty would continue his secretive crush on Naomi even if she came to school in a cardboard box for a shirt and sweat pants.

Chester practically dumped himself in the empty seat at their table, grumbling about evil Russians and yummy pancakes. The others stared at him, and he showed them the paper bag. "The Russian Hulk packed me a lunch." He explained angrily.

Kat grabbed the bag from Chester and was empting it out, listing the contents. "Hmm, let's see what we have here. There's a PB&J sandwich with the crust cut off, an apple, no crust on that either …a can of ginger ale? Why ginger ale? Oh, chocolate pudding! Can I have your pudding cup?"

"First off, no Kat, you can't have Chester's pudding. Second, Chester, why are you upset that he made you a lunch?" Abby asked her boyfriend, who was glaring with contempt at his chocolate pudding.

Chester stopped his staring contest with his food, which he was doing way too much lately, to look at her. "C'mon Abby, are you seriously telling me you don't know why I'm mad." It was true; she realized that she knew him well enough to know exactly why he was mad.

"This is really weird for you, isn't it?" Abby phrased it as a question, but she was really just stating the fact for the rest of the group.

Chester held his head in his hands. "You don't know the half of it. He made me breakfast, too. Pancakes. With chocolate chip smiley faces. How can I figure this guy out when last night he ripped my bedroom door off, locks and all, and this morning he's making me breakfast?"

Abby patted his shoulder, comforting him. "Don't worry; we'll help you through this." Chester smiled at her and she smiled back…

"I say we throw this guy a party. I was getting tired of giving Chester my desserts!" …And Ty just ruined their moment.

TY ARCHER: PROFESSIONAL MOMENT RUINER! TY ARCHER: PROFESSIONAL MOMENT RUINER!

With that on Chester's mind, he made it through the rest of the school day without thinking about Ludwig. He was even thinking about talking to him and seeing what the guy was about when he was walking out of the school, when his jaw dropped. "No… He wouldn't…"

OR WOULD HE? DUN DUN DUN!