Shibata had two months to learn how to make perfect soufflé pancakes….thank God he had help.
Contrary to popular belief he didn't know how to cook anything. He mostly knew about breakfast foods, true, but he mostly knew how to make regular pancakes and crepes. Waffles, too, but he was on a waffle strike. Every time he found a new waffle maker, a good one not any waffle maker would do, Shimazaki ruined it. Shibata had no idea why he thought that melting caramels in a waffle makers was a good idea. Even a nonstick one wouldn't stand up to that kind of burnt sugar. He probably did it to piss Shibata off, that would have made sense, and if that was the case Shibata wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.
He had better things to do than play into whatever the hell Shimazaki was playing at…like figuring out how to make soufflé pancakes.
"I think that the bottoms are burning again…it smells like burning." Said Mob as she craned over the stove. She poked at the pan with her powers. It moved….and the pancakes wiggled. Shibata could tell just by looking that this batch, like the one before it, was still raw in the middle…even though it had bene cooking for ten minutes already.
More than ten minutes.
"I think that you're right…but that's ok. We can just try again…if at first you don't succeed try again." said Shibata. He smiled even though he didn't really feel like smiling. This was the third time they'd tried this recipe…and he had no idea what he was doing wrong. He had the cake rings, the covered frying pan, and the pancake batter. The first time he'd followed it exactly, from the batter to the five minute cooking time, and the second time he'd tried more time one the fire, this was the third time around and it seemed more and more like no amount of time would make this recipe work.
He was right.
He lifted the lid and Mob flipped it with her powers. He'd tried flipping the first batch…and it hadn't worked out. He wasn't exactly the most dexterous person in the world, his hands were about twice as big as they should have been. Everything about him was twice as big. His hands, his feet, the fact that he towered above everyone else and always had…a blessing and a curse. Nobody messed with him, which was good, but people were scared of him…which wasn't good. Mob wasn't, though, she never had been. Neither had her siblings. They were a fearless bunch, the Suzuki's….
They were a lot of things.
"It's burnt and raw…maybe we should try a different recipe. Like….like maybe we need…um….something to make it bake better….something like that…." Said Mob. She maybe might have been able to remember if she hadn't been smoking while she…he didn't need to get upset over this. She was happy. He was happy that she was happy. She was just a kid and she shouldn't have been smoking at all….but she was just a kid and she deserved to be happy for as long as she could be….before the world ground her down.
That was what the world did.
Sometimes it felt like the world just…ground everything down to nothing. Things that weren't strong enough to withstand it. The world was…not a good place. He'd seen how bad it could be…and Mob would see it too. She would see it and so would Sho…and even Mukai. The kids would wake up one day and see all the meanness of the world, the callousness, the cruelty of it….so really they needed to enjoy their lives in whatever ways they could before that day came.
Not everyone was as big and as strong as he was.
"Baking powder?" asked Shibata
"Yes! Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking of but then I forgot the word for it. I mean I knew what it was but I just…forgot what it was…if that makes sense." Said Mob
"It makes sense and it's a good idea too. We can try that next." Said Shibata
"Thank you…sorry….I've just been kind of forgetful lately…but I'm ok. Um…do you think that we need to make a whole new batch of batter? Or do we need to just add it to this batch?" asked Mob
"Let's add it to this batch of batter for now and then we can see where we need to go from there." said Shibata He wasn't one hundred percent about deviating from the recipe. Nothing good came from deviating He actually didn't know how to cook. He had a bunch of recipes committed to memory but that was about it. He knew that certain flavors went well together, too, and he could improvise in things like stir fries but this was baking…it was more chemistry than cooking…and he had never been good at chemistry.
He had never been good at school end of discussion.
Well aside from home economics. He'd always done really well in home economics, he'd had to, he'd been the only one doing the homemaking. Dad had been too busy, and too proud, to take over after mom had gotten sick. Women's work was for women and men's work was for men. Dad had been a firm believer in the natural order of the world. Well that had never made sense to Shibata. Mom worked hard for their family so he was going to work hard for her. Besides, men could cook and clean. There were chefs who were men and professional organizers who were men, he'd watched a lot of that kind of TV back when mom first got sick, so why couldn't he help mom out? Dad hadn't approved but Shibata had been bigger than both of his parents since the age of about eight.
Sometimes it paid to be bigger than everyone else.
Dad had grumbled but let him be. Shibata hadn't once stopped taking care of mom no matter how much dad mumbled and grumbled and, if he had enough to drink, just came out and complained. No son of his, that was how it always started. No son of his was going to get down on his hands and knees and scrub mom's puke off the floor, no son of his was going to slave over a hot stove each day, no son of his was going to miss school to make sure that mom had someone to feed her and wash her and comb her hair and make her sweaters and blankets and all the other things you were supposed to do to take care of someone. No son of his….well then maybe Shibata wasn't a son of his…no. Dad loved him and mom loved him and….and he had done what he had to do. He always did what he had to do.
Even if it was things that…weren't always so very nice.
He had done things in Claw that he wasn't proud of…but everyone in Claw had done things that they weren't proud of. This was Claw. Minegishi had said, once, that President Suzuki surrounded himself with broken people so he'd feel better about himself. Shibata didn't think that he or any of his friends/coworkers, barring Shimazaki of course, were broken people. Everyone in Claw just…had a lot of problems…but that was alright. Shibata wasn't doing anything that other people hadn't done already and the money was good, too. Most of what he made went back to his parents, mom hadn't died but she hadn't gotten any better either, so the ends justified the means or whatever. Besides, working for Claw wasn't all standing around looking menacing and beating people to a bloody pulp. No, there were good times too…like these.
What could be better than making pancakes with one of his favorite kids in the whole world?
Well…finding a pancake recipe that worked. Adding baking powder to the mix that he and Mob had made hadn't really helped matters. Maybe if they made a whole new batch…but he'd have to make it from scratch. This was made from the boxed mix, he could make his own mix by hand but lately he'd been kind of lazy. Things were busy in Tokyo. President Suzuki was doing some spring, or in this case later summer, cleaning. Mob had been out with Shimazaki and, apparently, someone had shot at her. Shibata didn't know if they had been shooting at her, she was the daughter of the President of Claw after all, or if they had been shooting at Shimazaki, he did live to piss people off after all, but he didn't really need to know the whys now did he?
They shouldn't have been shooting at Mob in the first place.
"Maybe if we put less batter in the cake rings then the middles will cook better….but then they might not be all big and wobbly….and they have to be big and wobbly. Sho likes this kind, I think, and anyway he had the normal kind last year and the year before that….not that I didn't like them! I mean I love it when you make birthday pancakes for us." Said Mob as she used her powers to pick up their latest pancake batter based mistake and threw it in the trash. She was so helpful even when she didn't have to be. She really was a great kid…he wished that he'd had one like her. Well what he wanted was about six kids, three boys and three girls, but that wasn't going to happen. Women were scared of him, mostly, and the ones who weren't never stuck around for long…and he didn't stick around for long either. He moved around a lot and the only women he had contact with were through work…and that was never a good idea. Not that he wasn't…not that Tsuchiya wasn't…they worked together and lived together…so it wasn't like anything could have happened…but that was ok. He was alright with making birthday pancakes for someone else's kids.
That was almost as good as making pancakes for his own kids.
"We should try a different recipe, maybe, or maybe we should see if there's a dedicated soufflé pancake maker on Amazon or something." Said Shibata. He winced, inwardly of course. He hated spending money on himself. Mom was the one who needed it. Insurance only paid for her so much. Sure it covered her meds but not the nurse to get her to take them. The nurse the government paid for only came over for three afternoons a week. She needed round the clock care and that was expensive…plus there were the other things she needed. Walkers, a big TV so she had something to do during the day, the good yarn so she could do her knitting when she had good days…mom was the one who needed the money, not him, but…well this was important to Mob…
And you always had to put kids first.
"This is going to work…I mean it has to. It worked in the video and it's not like anyone would lie about this stuff…right? I mean I know that people lie on the internet but why would someone lie about pancakes…that's just weird. Pancakes…they aren't important…I mean they are to me but not to the world…do you know what I mean?" asked Mob
"I…do." Said Shibata. He had been about to tell her the truth, that she was getting way too stoned and she needed to take a break so she could start making sense again. She had been overdoing it for a while now...but she deserved it. President Suzuki…he'd put her through a lot. He was a dad, that was just how they were. They worked and when they weren't working they were recovering for work and they left a lot of responsibility to their kids. Mob was the oldest and a girl so a lot of stuff was left to her. She was mature for her age, too, and that meant that President Suzuki left a lot more responsibility to her than a normal father would have…
Shibata knew how stressful that could be.
So Mob had earned this. Her life…she had a hard life like everyone else in Claw had….well some people'd had much worse lives. Minegishi for one…he kind of wished Hatori hadn't told him their backstory. Shibata's was worse…sometimes Shibata actually felt a little bit of sympathy for him. Even Serizawa's backstory was kind of…well….honestly it was kind of a tearjerker. Shibata had always been bigger and stronger than everyone else…and he hadn't always been able to control that strength. People had been afraid of him…he'd been afraid of himself….but at least he was fine so long as he didn't touch anything or anyone. Serizawa just sort of…exploded….poor guy. A lot of powerful espers had that problem…well he knew that Mob did…
So he wasn't going to say anything about her smoking even though she, in his opinion, had been overdoing it for a while.
"It's like….sometimes things can be really important to one person but not another. Like how Mukai really cares about people brushing their teeth right now, and it's important, but nobody else brushes their teeth three times a day…but maybe she just likes the way it tastes. I used to like the way toothpaste tastes, the bubblegum kind, not the regular kind. The regular kind tastes too much like root beer and I don't really like root beer. I mean I like soda but not root beer…I can't remember if you like root beer or not…" said Mob
"It's alright but I like Pepsi better." Said Shibata. She was rambling again…it was so cute! She was always so cute but now…he wished he'd had his phone with him. It was either charging or Mukai had stolen it. He wished that he had some way to record this, she was so cute, even if she was stoned. All of the kids were cute. He wished that there had been some way to preserve them at this age forever. They were in the last years that they had before they stopped being cute and starting being…well…teenagers.
Not the best stage of life.
Shibata wouldn't have gone back to his teenage years, ever, not even if someone handed him a sack full of money and the world's most perfect waffle maker. Between the acne, the growth spurt, and the emotional rollercoaster every single day had been there was nothing at all that he wanted to go back to. The kids, well Mob and Sho, were about to hit that age…well Mob had pretty much hit it already. She had stopped wearing costumes and she'd pretty much stopped playing with dolls…also she hadn't suggested Frozen for the last three movie nights…she was going to be all grown up soon. Sho too…he was going through a lot…poor kid. Sho was going through a lot…but at least he was being honest to himself and his dad now….it hadn't gone over well but at least he was being honest and President Suzuki had sort of accepted him…he was allowed to be bi…not that President Suzuki got any say in that at all….but it was something….
The kids were going through so much…and there was nothing that he could do about it….nothing besides making their lives just a little bit better even if the best he could do was pancakes that were burnt on the bottom and raw in the middle.
"I like Coke better…the soda, not the drug, but the drug is really good too." Said Mob. Shibata winced. That was….his line when it came to this. There were drugs…and there were drugs…and then there were DRUGS. The first category was used to refer to things like caffeine pills and cough drops, the second one was for alcohol and various smokables, the last one was for coke and acid and meth and whatever else Shimazaki got up to in his life…
Things that Mob should NOT have been doing at her age…or at any age.
"That's…something. Hey Mob…Shimazaki…he hasn't been giving you coke again, has he?" asked Shibata. At the mention of Shimazaki Mob stiffened. Her body and her aura stiffened. The pan on the stove jumped. Shibata could feel his muscles twitching. So he'd done…something. That guy…that GUY…Shibata calmed down as best as he could. Shimazaki…he had a lot of problems….he couldn't help it. He'd had a pretty hard life. Being locked up as a kid…the murders…the things that he talked about like they were normal but they weren't…like his dad leaving him to die in the woods….
Yeah, he had a lot of problems….and certain things weren't his fault…but that didn't mean that he got to make Mob's problems worse.
"I didn't do anything." Said Mob. She said it quickly, she had never been a good liar, and…and Shimazaki…well there was no way to make him pay. He could teleport out of any situation and in a full on fight Shimazaki would always win…he could retreat at any time after all…and they all had to live together but….but still!
"If you did-" said Shibata
"Shibata, I just said that I didn't do anything." Said Mob
"I'm not saying that you DID something. I just mean, hypothetically, if something happened-" said Shibata
"It didn't! Nothing happened and I didn't do anything, ok? Shimazaki and I didn't do anything and we're just friends and-and-and let's make pancakes. Right now. We have to make pancakes right now so we can get the recipe right and then Sho can have a good birthday and Sho can't have a good birthday if we don't get the recipe right and we'll never get the recipe right if all we do is stand around all day talking about Shimazaki-" said Mob. Shimazaki was kind of like Bloody Mary, if you said his name enough times he would appear. Shibata didn't know if that was one of his powers or if he just laid in wait for people to mention him…and it didn't really matter how he did it…
The result was always the same.
"Ryou!" said Mob as Shimazaki teleported right behind her. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed her to his chest. Shibata…was not going to say anything about that. For his entire life, as long as he'd been able to remember, people had been nervous with him near their kids. Even when he'd been a kid….well he'd been the size of a grown man since elementary school….people hadn't wanted him anywhere near their kids. Just because a man liked holding kids and being near them didn't mean that anything…weird….was happening….
Everyone deserved the benefit of the doubt…even someone like Shimazaki.
"Hey Mob, what's cookin' good lookin'?" asked Shimazaki. He pressed his head down into her hair and kissed the top of her head. She didn't tell him to stop or push him away…and he was a pretty affectionate guy….he didn't always know when he got too affectionate. It might have come from the whole 'living in isolation' for so long thing. Serizawa had a thing about touch, too, though for him it went the other way. The only person who could touch him was Miss Suzuki…well she was very sweet and cute and approachable….so it made sense that Serizawa would have warmed up to her…and maybe Shimazaki too…
But this just…kind of rubbed Shibata the wrong way…and he didn't really know why.
"Um…pancakes….we're trying to make pancakes." Said Mob. Shimazaki kissed her on the top of the head once more before stepping away…but keeping one hand on the small of her back…and that was…not normal. Shibata wasn't afraid to admit that he could be a little but too touchy-feely when it came to the kids. He used to pick them up, hold them, and toss them…but he had never put his hand on the small of anyone's back before….well not any kid's back…because that was just….weird…
That was really more of something you did for your girlfriend…or partner…but not a twelve year old.
"Trying being the operative word here. It smells like you guys were trying to burn the house down or something." Said Shimazaki
"Well we weren't so if there's something you need or want-" said Shibata
"We can't figure it out…um…and I would ask you to help but you can't cook." Said Mob. Shimazaki shook his head and…well that was more than weird. His had had moved to her waist now…which was better than the small of her back….but not as normal as literally anywhere above her waist…at least he was at her waist though so…it wasn't as weird as it could have been…
It was pretty damn weird, though.
"If you're hungry have Minegishi make you something." Said Shibata
"Toshi's busy communing with nature." Said Shimazaki
"Oh…um…do you want to go and commune with nature with them? I can make you a pancake if we ever get this right…or something else. I know how to make a few things….I mean I can't really cook that well but I can try…um….I can make you pudding." Said Mob. Shimazaki lit up at the mention of pudding….well…more than he usually lit up at the mention of pudding. There was a dusting of red on his cheeks…and Shibata didn't like the way he was smiling…or the way his fingers fanned out around Mob's waist….
That was really weird.
"You'd seriously make me pudding? From scratch?" asked Shimazaki
"We have pudding in the cabinet. You know which one, it's labeled." Said Shibata
"I'd rather have pancakes." Said Shimazaki
"Ok, um, we're still figuring it out though." said Mob
"What's there to figure out? They're pancakes. Just put the water in the mix and fry them until they smell done." Said Shimazaki
"We're trying to make soufflé pancakes….that's the fancy kind that are really tall and fluffy and stuff….if you didn't know." Said Mob
"We really should get back to work, so, yeah. How about you go and find Sho or see if Minegishi's done sleeping in their garden-" said Shibata
"Communing with nature." Said Shimazaki
"They're meditating…well it's not exactly meditating….but it's not sleeping and…um…you're right. They probably miss Shimazaki…um…Ryou. They probably miss you, Ryou, so maybe you could go outside and spend time with them while me and Shibata try and figure out these pancakes." Said Mob
"What's the problem with them, exactly?" asked Shimazaki
"What do you even care? You don't even know how to-" said Shibata
"The middle won't cook. See, well…you know what I mean, we have to put the batter in these cake rings and then they're supposed to rise like soufflés do but the bottoms just burn and the middles don't want to cook…so we don't know what to do." Said Mob
"Aww, you don't have to go all out for my birthday like this. I'd just be happy to have you with me." said Shimazaki
"They're for Sho. You'll be lucky if I pour you a glass of milk on your birthday." Said Shibata
"Well then it's a good thing that Mob's in charge of the birthdays now isn't it?" asked Shimazaki
"Um…I can make you something on your birthday but…um….I don't know if we'll figure this out so…um…maybe we should get back to work." Said Mob
"So maybe you should go and get back to doing whatever it is you do during the day." Said Shibata. Shimazaki didn't listen…he had a real problem with listening. Shimazaki just reached over and stuck his finger in the bowl of batter and then held his hand about the frying pan. He frowned and then rubbed his fingers together.
"Cream of tartar would probably stabilize it. That's your problem, I think, so either use cream of tartar or maybe stick the whole thing in the oven." Said Shimazaki. Shibata blinked. So did Mob. Then Shimazaki did, too, but it was probably just to be funny or something…though he did say that blinking was a reflex he had even though he didn't have eyes…he was just full of surprises….like the fact that he knew how to cook….
Then what in the hell had he been ruining all of those waffle irons for?
Years. He had been ruining Shibata's waffle irons for years. Yeas upon years upon years….Shibata had just figured that he didn't know any better. Either that or he had been fucking with Shibata…fucking with him was the better explanation and….and…and….
This fucking guy!
"Thanks…Ryou. Um….I need to cook now so…so you can go and have fun somewhere and…and when they're done then I'll make call you and you can have some." Said Mob
"If we're having lunch together I should bring something too. How about-" said Shimazaki
"I already ate! I mean…I'm not hungry but…but you can eat with Minegishi….ok? And then after this I'll…um…I'll have to…to iron my bed! I mean the laundry on my bed…that will be on my bed…when I do the laundry…" said Mob. She was stuttering, now, and Shibata…well he wasn't entirely sure if this was a result of being stoned or the fact that Shimazaki had moved his hand back to her lower back. He just…kept his hand there….for some reason….
Shibata hoped to God that it wasn't for a weird reason…for Shimazaki's sake…no that he was accusing him of anything! Just…this was….all kinds of weird….
"Sure thing, Mob, sure thing, you're busy and now's not a good time. How about we turn breakfast for lunch into breakfast for dinner?" asked Shimazaki
"Um….I don't know….um…ok? Just…just let me see if dad wants me to have dinner with him….ok?" said Mob
"Ok, sure, whatever you want." Said Shimazaki before he leaned down and kissed Mob on the side of her face…she'd turned her head…before she turned her head it looked like Shimazaki had been about to kiss her on the mouth….but that would have been….not right. Weird…not just weird but not right…but he wasn't like that. He had just been teasing Mob like he used to…that was it…and teasing her wasn't right but….but it wasn't as wrong as…well what he had been about to do…
What it had looked like he had been about to do.
Shibata wasn't about to go throwing around accusations like that. He knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of those and it was the worst….knowing how people saw you. Knowing how people's minds just went to the worst possible place…it was the worst and Shibata…he didn't want to be that kind of person. Shimazaki…he was…he was someone with no sense of boundaries or appropriate social behavior…and also…well there was the story he told…and the girl got younger and younger each time he told it….so Shibata…he had no idea what to do…
So he made pancakes.
This was…he was worried but…but he might have been worried about nothing. It dawned on him, as the pancake making process went on, that Shimazaki couldn't have had any kinds of feelings for Mob at all. Minegishi would have turned him into plant food if he even thought about going there with her…there. That had just been him teasing her and having zero sense of boundaries…and anyway if something had been happening then Mob would have said something to him. She knew that he was always on her side no matter what. She knew that…right? She did. She did and…and this was fine….Shimazaki was just teasing her…because he was an asshole….he was the biggest asshole in all of Claw….
Even if he did know a thing or two about making pancakes.