AN: A follow up of sorts to Art of Brewing where I'm giving the dialogue-only thing another shot with Rean and Alisa. Experimenting again in the sense that there's a bit more action (for lack of a better word) in the background as opposed to two people simply standing and having a static conversation; hot chocolate still drives the plot though :P

Conversations Over Chocolate

"Hey. Couldn't sleep either, huh?"

"Rean! Geez, could you give me a little warning next time? I thought I was going to have a heart attack!"

"I-I didn't mean to startle you. Sorry, Alisa."

"… It's fine. Don't worry about it. And to answer your question, I'm definitely having trouble nodding off tonight. I wish I could say why, it's so frustrating."

"It always is when you can't get any rest. You're not thinking too hard about anything, are you? I find that if I let my brain run around too much before bed it's hard to get it to settle down."

"Can't say that I am, though now that you bring it up I should really be asking you that. You've got a bad habit of overworking yourself when you're awake is as, y'know."

"So I keep being told. But hey; I'm still in one piece, so it can't be that bad, right?"

"I think I'll nod and smile and pretend I agree with you. It's way too late to do anything more than that."

"Fair enough. So, did you come down here for a glass of water too?"

"Nope. When I had trouble sleeping when I was younger Sharon would always make me a cup of hot chocolate to help me doze off, so I figured I'd try that."

"Wait, that worked? I thought the sugar would have kept you up even more."

"You'd think so, but there was something about the way she made it that was so warm and comforting that I couldn't help but pass out right after… and I could really use some of that tonight. Do you want some too?"

"I can hardly say no to that offer. Did you need any help making it?"

"Sure, if you can grab the dark chocolate from where Sharon keeps it while I take care of heating the milk, that'd be great!"

"Consider it done. I'm starting to wish I'd paid more attention to where she stores everything…"

"Oh, come on. If you managed to make Laura and Fie patch things up that one time I'm pretty sure tracking down some chocolate can't be that hard."

"Well, if I'm being honest I didn't actually do that much. And even if I did, it's not really the same thing. Hey, found it!"

"Good, pass some over here and we can break it into small chunks. It'll melt better that way."

"Got it. Like this, right?"

"Yup, exactly like that. You're a natural, Rean."

"I try. So, now we just wait for the milk to heat up?"

"Yeah, then we just add the chocolate along with some heavy cream and slowly whisk everything together. It's too bad we're doing this at night, Machias said that a little bit of instant coffee actually makes everything taste that much better..."

"Machias said something positive about instant coffee? I find that hard to believe."

"I mean, he rolled his eyes and followed it up with some wisecrack about broken clocks being right twice a day but I guess it still technically counts."

"And now that I've heard that, everything is once again right with the world."

"No kidding, huh? I still want to try it some time, though. And… I think that's enough whisking. Wow, it smells delicious!"

"Yeah, it really does. Oh, here's a mug."

"Thanks. Mmm, that's good."

"Now you're getting me all eager. Do you mind if I…?"

"Sure, just hang on to that while I pour you some. H-Hey, wait a minute, what are you - "

"Man, you weren't kidding. This is the best hot chocolate I've ever had!"

"?!"

"Whew, that really hit the spot. Good thing I didn't want that much, otherwise I'd have probably downed the whole thing!"

"Rean! You can't just – I mean not from the same – we basically just k– "

"Oh sorry, you probably wanted another sip. Here, I didn't mean to hog it or anything."

"…"

"Uh, Alisa?"

"I, uh… thanks."

"What for? If anything, I should be the one thanking you. You know, I think this might be the first time I've actually enjoyed being sleep deprived."

"(Ugh. How can you say something like that without even thinking about it...?)"

"Hmm? Sorry, I missed that. Come again?"

"D-Don't worry about it. And Rean?"

"Yeah?"

"… You can have more, if you want."

"Haha. Don't mind if I do."