Premise: Nora bakes Ren cookies out of love. Unfortunately Ren is pretty sure these cookies are a bio-hazard. Also, I'm doing word of the day by literally compiling a list of cool words I like. Today's word is Suspiration- An intense sigh.
A/N: This is so far, my most viewed story on this account! Shout out to those of y'all who followed and favorited. Also, BIG shout out to the first reviewer; If I knew who you were I'd PM a thank you but it was unfortunately, a guest who first reviewed! If you're reading this, thank you so much! I mean it when I say reviews matter a lot to me. I like knowing that people enjoy my stories!
Chapter 12: Baking, Part 2
As he walked into the kitchen, he thought to himself that this was most definitely not going to be a good experience.
Nora was hunched over the stove, stirring a pot with Magnhild's hilt, hammer just barely missing the ceiling.
"Nora?" He asked hesitantly, for fear she might try and rope him into this.
She turned around and beamed, "Hi, Jaune!"
"What are you doing?" he asked, leaning against the wall.
"Making vegetable soup!" she responded cheerfully. Jaune walked over to her, peering into the pot. It looked like she was trying to make vegetable soup.
But the only vegetable was leeks. Lots and lots of leeks. And the broth looked more like translucent yellow slime.
"Why?" Jaune asked apprehensively.
She shrugged, "Ren likes vegetables-I don't know how-and I wanted to make soup cuz it sounds easy-peasy; But not pea soup because we don't have peas, but when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, er, leek soup in this case!"
Worry lit up Jaune's mind as Nora continued to prattle on: Was Ren sick? Was Nora doing the cooking all day? Was Nora asked to cook? What else has Nora cooked?
"Did… Did Ren not want to cook today?" he tried to ask casually.
"No, I just wanted to."
This is worse than I thought. If she wanted to cook, of her own free will, did this mean she'd do it more often? The last time she cooked, she set water on fire.
"Oh." He said, letting silence fall over the pair.
Jaune glanced over at the table and let out an audible gasp. "Nora, what are those?"
She smiled, "Cookies, silly."
They look more like volcanic rock than cookies. This is too much for me, he thought. "Be right back." he said, hurrying to get Ren. He is the only person I know that can talk serious sense into Nora while making it seem friendly.
…
"Nora… what are you doing?" Ren ran a hand through his hair as he walked into the kitchen, with a nervous Jaune in tow.
Nora whipped around, shyly hiding Magnhild behind her back despite it being taller than her, "Not stirring soup!"
Ren sighed, walking over. He was still in his pajamas, not having any time to get dressed as Jaune literally pulled him out of bed.
"And why are you…not… stirring soup?" He asked calmly.
Nora thought a moment, finally coming up with a positively airtight excuse that wouldn't give her surprise away, "Ren, as my best friend in the whole world you should know it's always been a dream of mine to not stir soup on a Saturday morning!"
Ren's face took on an amused expression, the kind only Nora could give him, though his voice was deadpan, "Your dream is to not stir soup on a Saturday?" He cocked an eyebrow.
She nodded hurriedly.
Ren let out another suspiration, "Nora, why are you cooking again?"
She set Magnhild down 'gently' with a thump and smiled, "I felt bad that you always have to cook, and nobody else really does it, unless you count the time Pyrrha and Yang tried to make a cake for Ruby's birthday, but I don't count that because that wasn't specifically for our team!"
Ren reached over and turned off the stove, "Thank you, Nora, but I'm fine cooking for the team. Really. You don't have to do this."
Nora stuck out her tongue, "But I haven't even set anything on fire yet!"
Ren made a face, "That added 'yet' is the reason that I'm the one who cooks."
Nora frowned, "So you guys aren't going to at least try anything I made?"
Ren did not have a chance to respond. Jaune panicked, looking at Ren with pleading blue eyes.
"Hello, everyone." Pyrrha called, cheerfully walking into the room.
"PYRRHA!" Nora called, "WANT A COOKIE!?"
Pyrrha jumped a little, "Uh- what?"
Nora ran over, brandishing her tray of obsidian, "Want to try one? Jaune's a chicken."
"Hey!"
Pyrrha considered, ultimately letting her altruism get the best of her. "I… would love one."
Nora let out a squee, grinning as Pyrrha took a bite with an audible crunch. She turned the same shade of green as her eyes, but kept her countenance, "It's certainly… flavorful." She gagged and put the rest back on the tray, "A bit too rich for me." She lied.
Nora looked crestfallen, "Are they that bad?"
Jaune scratched his head, "No offense Nora, but your cooking is-"
"Well then," Ren interrupted rather loudly (loud for him, anyway), "Why don't I make pancakes and we have more of Nora's cookies later?"
Nora lit up, then frowned, torn between telling him he didn't need to and thanking him for pancakes.
"Nora," Ren called her over, "You can help, if you want."
"Yay!" Nora exclaimed loudly, rushing over.
"Your job is to -this is very, very important- watch the pancakes for bubbles. It is the most crucial job, and you must be very careful. You cannot move or even speak; You must be that serious for this. Otherwise all is lost. Only speak if you see bubbles. We can't risk losing the bubbles." Ren said severely.
Nora nodded gravely, "Okay. I won't let you down!" She said, "I will be so serious."
Jaune and Pyrrha were left standing aside, watching as Ren made pancakes and Nora silently glared at them, waiting for bubbles.
Jaune looked over at Pyrrha, "I can't tell if he was that serious about pancakes or if he just wanted her to forget about making us eat the coo-" he was promptly silenced by Miló pelting him across the room and into a wall.
"I'm sorry!"