After aproximately 10 minutes of beating egg whites, Aren thought his arm would fall off, and he had only just gotten the frothy mixture to start peaking.
"Mako, are you sure this part is necessay?" He asked, wearily.
Makoto turned her head, keeping one eye on the creme she was stirring, and made a face at him.
"Come on, where's that legendary arm strength?" she asked, with a grin.
Aren rolled his eyes. "There's arm strength, and then there's being required to be a machine."
Ignoring him with a laugh, Makoto returned to her stirring, leaning down to smell the thickening creme. "Mmm..."
For a couple of minutes, the only sounds in the kitchen were a wisk against glass, and the light hiss of the gas stove. Then, Makoto turned off the heat and began pouring the sweet mixture into several dishes.
"Oh, did I tell you my plan?" She asked, turning back to Aren, who seemed to have gotten a second wind from the way his merengue finally started looking solid.
He shook his head, clearly focused. Makoto went to the refigerator and took out a basket of already-washed berries and sliced fruit, setting it on the counter.
"I'm going to research food from the old kingdom and see if I can recreate it, and then we'll have a big party and it'll be like..."
Aren stopped whisking and set the bowl down, grabbing a lightly greased cookie sheet and a spoon from the supply shelf.
"It'll be like before, but better?" The look on his face was hard to read, and Makoto immediately felt guilty.
"No, no!" She said, "I didn't mean that, I meant it'll be like we're in all times at once, like, everything is finally unified."
She watched as Aren took a deep breath and then smiled. He walked over to the island where Makoto stood, and leaned down to give her a tight hug.
"I know, Mako, I know you didn't mean anything by it. I just have a hard time believing that you've forgiven me."
"Oh come on, its been over a year since you got back." Makoto said, punching him lightly in the chest. "Don't you think I'd have beaten you up by now if I wanted to?"
"That's probably true." he conceded.
"Besides, before he summoned you all back, Mamoru sat us down and explained everything. He told us about the political climate, the pressures everyone was under. He said he completely understood if we still didn't want to see any of you, but that he was going to give you a shot."
Aren's eyes widened. "Really? That squirt has gotten a little wiser over the years. Who'd have thought?"
"Exactly, so don't you ever think that I want to send you back or make you miserable over the past, ok? Or else I really will Jupiter Oak Evolution you into the next apartment building."
Makoto struck a fierce pose which had Aren grabbing on to the refrigerator in order to keep from falling over laughing.
"Alright," she said, trying to keep from laughing herself, "Hurry up and get that merengue in the oven. Everyone is going to be over soon and if Usagi doesn't get her birthday desserts she is going to cry all day."