Summary: Forest tried fixing Leaf dinner. It didn't go the way he had hoped.

What was the one thing they told you not to do?

Burn the house down…

And what did you do?

…I made dinner?

Forest remained silent as he stared at the burns marked on his palms. He'd managed to stop the fire from spreading, but it didn't come without a price. He wasn't entirely sure how bad the burning was, but everything he attempted to do just made him want to groan in pain. Sighing to himself, he took a seat at the table, staring at the bare, wooden table.

"Moons damn it," He cursed, his voice choking up a little. He would've rested his head on his palms, but doing that only seemed more painful than stress relieving. Instead, he opted to carefully placing his arms on the table, resting on top of them.

He had only been trying to fix dinner for him, Moth, and Leaf - he wasn't normally the one who fixed it, but Moth was out shoring up one of the tunnels to the lake and Leaf was still at his session with Pine, leaving him to figure out the dinner plan for the night. Not that Forest was complaining - he'd been wanting a chance to do something to celebrate the whole year Leaf had spent with them since he'd been staying in Valor.

And even though I tried my best not to screw up, I ruined it and they're going to hate me for it.

…Well, Forest thought he was probably being a bit overdramatic on that last point. But he certainly didn't doubt that he hated himself for it.

Before Forest could internally rant on what he should've done instead, the door to the cave opened. Forest warily lifted his head to see Leaf, whose neutral expression quickly turned into alarm once he spotted Forest. He rushed over to Forest, his eyes wide.

"Forest, what's wrong?" He asked - though he grew quiet once he saw the burns on Forest's hands. Leaf gently placed his hand on Forest's shoulder, crouching down. "…What happened?"

Forest could feel the embarrassment rising in his cheeks. "I…almost set the cave on fire?"

Leaf took a glance where Forest had been cooking - he sighed. "Ah. It doesn't look that bad, I'd say." He turned back to Forest, shrugging. "I don't think you would've been able to set the whole cave on fire, though."

"Tell that to Moth's dad," He grumbled underneath his breath.

"Forest, I highly doubt you would been able to burn down the whole cave like that," He replied, his tone stern. "You may be clumsy, but you aren't that destructive."

Forest groaned. "Gee, thanks for the encouragement."

Leaf drew back, crossing his arms. "I'm trying."

Standing up, Forest sighed. "Well, I'm glad you're trying."

After a moment of silence, Leaf took Forest's hands, smiling awkwardly. "I can clean up for you, if you want? But after that I'm going to help you with your burns, no questions asked."

"…That'd be great," Forest exhaled, squeezing Leaf's hands lightly. "Just…please don't tell Daffodil and Violet about this? I'll never hear the end of it."

"Still trying!" Leaf called out with a smirk, already walking away. Forest couldn't help but laugh to himself, following after him.