A/N: Hello! Happy Wednesday everyone! Slightly adjusted schedule this time around, but next chapter will be Tuesday! :) Nothing much to say but that this (all three of these in The Paint Ninja arc, actually!) have been some of my favorite chapters to write! Hope you all enjoy!

Nearly three hours later, they were finished. Adeleine rubbed her hand - thoroughly caked with mostly-dry paint - over her forehead, shifting a couple bangs out of the way.

"Well," she sighed, "we did it." She glanced over at Kirby and tried not to laugh. "Ready for a break, Kirbs?"

This was an understatement. Kirby was currently on the ground, his arms and legs apart like he was trying to make a snow - er, plastic wrap-angel? Adeleine felt bad, but she finally gave up and laughed.

Kirby was too tired to care. "Yeah. That would be nice…" he groaned. "My arms hurt. And whoever said wall-sits suck obviously never painted a wall. Up and down…up and…" He made an unintelligible but very displeased noise and covered his face with his hands.

Adeleine offered him a hand. "Sorry Kirbs. But - hey, it's done." She paused. "Well, almost."

Kirby peeked a wary eye from between his fingers as if to say, There's more?

The painter helped him up to his feet and explained, "It's just a couple designs. I can even do it myself, if you want."

"Designs?" Kirby asked, rubbing his sore shoulders.

Adeleine nodded. "Yeah. Just a few things," she said. "I mean, if that's alright."

"What? Of course, it's fine!" he said. "I can...I can help, too, if I can."

She smiled. "Sure! I'd welcome the company."

Kirby looked around the room. "So, now what? Are you going to do some sort of special Color NInja move? Teach me a secret technique?"

"No!" Adeleine laughed. "We wait 'till the paint dries. We can't do much before then. It'll probably take…eh, four hours I'd say." Kirby gave her a wide-eyed look and she said, "Hey! It takes awhile to dry, alright?"

"Hmm…" Kirby put a hand to his chin. "Well, I'm kinda hungry." His stomach growled as if on cue and he looked down at it in sheepish embarrassment. "Uh, do you want something to eat?"

"Yeah! What have you got?"

Kirby gave her a look as if to say, What do I not have? "Tons of stuff - mac n' cheese, ramen, watermelon...I could probably make something up too if you wanted."

"Really?" Adeleine looked excited at the thought. "I get to taste the great Chef Kirby's cooking finally?"

Kirby scratched the back of his head, cheeks quickly turning red. "I'm not that good..." he mumbled, embarrassed. He looked up and frowned, suddenly noticing someone in the doorway. "Marx, what are you doing?"

The jester froze and his mouth hung open for a moment. There was an awkward beat of silence.

"Nothing," he said slowly. He fumbled with something behind his back and Kirby moved to try to get a look at it - Marx suddenly moved, blocking his view.

Before Kirby or Adeleine could ask anything more, the jester sidestepped along the hallway like a crab. "Nope, nothing to see here!" he called. "Nope, nope...annnnd, see ya!" He took off, taking the steps to the foyer four at a time...

Adeleine and Kirby winced as they heard a large thump! followed by a slew of curses. Adeleine blushed slightly and Kirby rose an eyebrow as the comparison of various sweets and monkeys was made.

"Wow..." Adeleine remarked.

"Sorry, Adeleine," Kirby sighed as the curses faded into the basement, Marx's evil lair.

"Oh, it's fine. Kinda used to it, actually," she remarked. "Though he might just beat out Daroach in creativity. Definitely haven't heard anything like that before...What do you think he was doing?"

Kirby seemed to be running a few scenarios in his head. By the look on his face, however, none of them were good. "I…have no idea," he finally said. "And that's never good sign. Especially with Marx."

"Ah." Adeleine nodded. They began walking downstairs in pursuit of food and Adeleine hoped that Kirby would cook something. She had heard from both Ribbon and Daroach that his food was amazing.

Or, in Daroach's account, insert-highly-colorful-word-here awesome.

Even Meta Knight, who was still a bit (correction: very) wary after the seafood-fruit-salad experiment, admitted that the youth was talented.

Adeleine crossed her fingers in anticipation.

"Thanks for helping me paint Walky's room, Adeleine," Kirby was saying. He yawned. "I don't know how I could have done it without you."

Adeleine waved a hand. "No problem. I'm glad to help," she said. "But it's not done yet, so we'll see..."

Kirby smiled. "I'm sure it'll be awesome."

"Yeah..." Adeleine pictured her design on the wall and hoped that it turned out right. And that Walky liked it.

They got into the kitchen, which was thankfully clean.

After the previous night's…surprise, Kirby had been wary to get his breakfast the next morning. However when he came, armed with enough cleaning supplies to clean a landfill, he was shocked to find it clean. It even smelled nice. He had mentioned it to Marx, but the jester had cut him off, chalking it up to the Cleaning Fairies. Kirby knew better.

Before food, the two set about cleaning up, scrubbing their arms and hands. Adeleine even tackled Kirby's hair to see if she could at least get it to be pointing down instead of up.

And it succeeded. Kinda.

"You know, it's kinda cool actually. With the streaks of gray here and..." Adeleine commented, trying to cheer up Kirby.

He perked up a little. "Really?"

As if on cue, Marx walked by and laughed. "Nice hair, Bubbles!"

He traipsed off and Kirby grumbled, "I think I'll wear a hat tomorrow..." Adeleine gave him a sympathetic smile. He shrugged, sighing. "So, what would you like?"

Adeleine perked up. "Are you going to be cooking?"

"Well, I thought so-"

"YES!" Adeleine pumped an arm in victory. "In that case, I'm good with anything. Maybe something more filling, though - after all that hard work, right?"

Kirby nodded, then squinted at the ceiling in an adorable way as he thought about what to make. "Hm…something filling." His eyes suddenly lit up. "I know! Uh, you can sit down, if you want." Adeleine obliged and sat at the island on a tall, comfy swivel chair. She immediately began swirling back and forth in the chair (who doesn't?) and watched as Kirby buzzed around the kitchen.

He flew through cabinets, the fridge, the stove - he moved like a blur, knowing exactly what he needed.

Adeleine laughed as he walked across the kitchen, balancing a spice jar on his nose, going cross-eyed. "Nice," she said as Kirby caught it and piled it next to his other ingredients. She swerved to the side to see what Kirby was laying on the hot, sizzling pan. She grinned. "Chicken? That sounds great!"

Kirby frowned. "No peeking!"

"Sorry, just curious." She turned away, taking her eyes off Kirby. However, as delicious smells slowly rose up from the stove, she found it harder and harder. She sighed, resting her chin in the cup of her hand. "Thanks Kirby."

"Huh? But it's not done yet."

"It still smells amazing."

"Thanks!"

Adeleine smiled.

He seemed to be in a much better mood now. Although Daroach and Meta Knight told her not to worry when she mentioned it to them, she had been worried when she went to Kirby's house the other day to find that he wasn't home. The lights were off and the house was silent. He wouldn't even answer his phone. She knew that he hadn't forgotten about them painting Walky's room (although the youth could be a bit oblivious at times, he wasn't forgetful).

Then, he called the next day, sounding…well, depressed. More than Adeleine had ever heard him. When he asked to reschedule, Adeleine agreed immediately.

She had a thought. "So, did your cousin just come in?"

"Yeah, the other night actually," Kirby replied, shaking and flipping the pan. The smells that came off of it were heavenly. "Why?"

The same day you weren't here…Adeleine thought suddenly. She shook her head, brushing the thought away. So what if it was the same day? "Oh, uh, no reason. Did you go pick him up?"

"Uh, no. He kinda…dropped in?" Kirby kindly left out the part where Marx kinda-sorta broke into his house, destroyed his kitchen, and stole all the pillows in the house. Little things like that.

"Oh, got it." Adeleine couldn't tell whether his tone was more distracted by the cooking or weary and she hoped that his cousin had helped his mood and hadn't been the cause of it. "He's...interesting," Adeleine blurted out and she immediately felt embarrassed. "Uh, sorry. I didn't mean-"

Kirby, however, had started laughing. "It's fine. He's always been like that."

Adeleine took a breath. "You mean staring at people without saying anything when he meets them for the first time? For like, five minutes?" she asked. "And doesn't blink at all?"

"Yup. Typical Marx," Kirby replied like this was a daily occurrence. He smiled good-naturedly. "It takes him awhile to warm up to people."

"Hm..." Adeleine thought about this. So, what would he be like if he did warm up to Adeleine? Call her nicknames like she heard him do with Kirby? Or would he ever warm up to her?

She shrugged. "So, when's Walky coming?"

Kirby was grabbing out some plates and Adeleine immediately perked up. "Next week, I think he said? He wanted to get in before the school year started."

"That makes sense. Where's he going to?" Adeleine asked curiously. She was already set with her college, Shiver Star Art Institute.

"Popstar Community College, I think. He told me he really wants to go somewhere else, though, to major in music, but most of the places are pretty far." He sighed. "Money and all."

"Yeah..." She had been pretty lucky that her dream school was in town. "That's awesome, though. Music Performance?"

Kirby gave a small smile as if remembering something. "I don't know. He said he wasn't sure, yet. That would be cool, though."

Adeleine bobbed her head. She suddenly looked at Kirby. "Do you know what you're going to do?"

Kirby was putting some final touches on the plates. "I…think so," he said finally. The youth sighed. "I really want to go to Dreamland Culinary School, but…well, I've been accepted into the same community college Walky's going to, so I might go there for a year."

"Nothing wrong with that," Adeleine said, hearing the disappointment in his voice. "You'll get there, Kirby."

Kirby turned and gave her an appreciative smile. "Thanks," he said. "Now, are you ready to eat?"

"YES!"

Kirby laughed and set a plate in front of her.

Adeleine gasped in delight. The smell of herbs and lemon rose to her nose and she had to restrain herself from stuffing her face right then and there. A small chicken breast was cooked perfectly, browned slightly where it had touched the pan. It was peppered with green herbs and along with the lemon that Adeleine could smell inside of it, it had a small lemon sliced on top of it. The interesting thing was that what looked like small, bright red cranberries were drizzled lightly on top. To the side was a small salad with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and shavings of cheese.

She suddenly put her hands together in prayer and looked up at the heavens in thanks. Then, she dug in.

It was even better than it looked.

"This is delicious, Kirby," she said in between bites.

Kirby ate as well and gave a bright smile. "Thanks! I'm glad you like it," he said. "You can do it with tofu, too and it works pretty well."

Adeleine nodded but wondered why he mentioned this.

Kirby saw her look. "I cooked it one time for Daroach like that." Still no light bulb. "Uh, you do know he's a vegetarian, right?"

If Adeleine had been drinking something, she would have done a spit-take. "W-wait. What?"

"Yeah. Apparently for a while, too. I was pretty surprised when he told me."

Adeleine shook her head in disbelief as she tried to wrap her mind around it. "Huh. Well, I'm glad I didn't take him to any of those barbecue places I was thinking of…" she said. "I'm a bit of a meat-lover, myself."

"Ditto." Kirby grinned. "So, how are-" He stopped suddenly. Adeleine rose a brow and told him to go on. "Uh, how are you two doing…um, you know." He blushed slightly, however, it was nothing compared to the red that had settled onto Adeleine's face. "Sorry," he squeaked.

This got Adeleine out of her lull. She blinked. "Huh? What? No Kirby, it's fine. I mean, I think things are going well." It was true. Her and Daroach had been hanging out since their trip to Happy Bee All-Store and they seemed to be getting along alright. Still bantering, but honestly Adeleine wouldn't have had it any other way.

Kirby's brows furrowed in concern. "You 'think'?"

"Well, I don't really want to jump to any conclusions, you know?" Adeleine said hurriedly, brushing her hair behind her ear. She frowned.

More like she didn't want to jinx anything…

She shook her head and ate some of her salad. When she looked up, Kirby was eating as well, but he had a somewhat wistful look in his eyes and Adeleine wondered what he was thinking about...or was it who?

"Thanks for the food," she spoke up.

Kirby looked up suddenly, brought out of his thoughts. "Yeah, I'm glad you enjoyed it!" he said. "It was fun to do!" His smile was infectious and Adeleine quickly found herself smiling as well.

Later, they rinsed off their dishes and put them in the dishwasher and Adeleine quickly discovered that Kirby had begun a rather strict regime for keeping the kitchen clean after what he had called the kitchen's Dark Ages.

She had a feeling that Meta Knight wouldn't object to this term. In fact, he might have even coined it for the kitchen.

Once this was done and Kirby had set the pans he had cleaned on the stove to air-dry, Kirby asked Adeleine if they should head back upstairs to check the paint.

She shook her head. "No. It'll take a couple more hours to dry. We could...go on a walk if you wanted." She shrugged. "What do you think?"

Kirby paused for a second, rubbing his eyes. "Sure. Sounds good to me," he replied, smiling lightly.

Yay! Kirby Chef time! I think this might actually be one of the first appearances of Kirby and his awesome cooking abilities (and it's what? chapter 26? eh, better late than never!) which will probably start appearing a bit more from now on...Also, we get more info on colleges! When I was talking to my Beta Reader about the story in general, I thought it was kinda sad/funny that this story seems to be in a perpetual state of Summer. And I started this story like four years ago.

Haha, yeah...

But in all seriousness, the seasons DO change. This isn't some strange world that they don't - there's just some things that need to happen still before Fall!

Well, hope you all have a great week and weekend! See you on Tuesday!

~Pyro-Link