Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sound of the Jeep, its vague unhealthy wheezing engine, stomping boots, and the front door SLAMMING with the satisfying bang of an old house with little to no padding between door and frame did rather an outstanding job of heralding Yu’s return. The muffled curses and tired drag of his boot heels in the front entrance said it had not just been a -long- day, but probably a bad one.

In a moment of trying to explain a previous time, Yu had described the mood as ‘a saturation point’, having just had too much of …well, everything, but offered no suggestions as to what he did to unwind from such a thing.

That was probably part of why he stormed past the kitchen in a scuffle stepped power walk towards the stairs and the shower, making it up the first three before you heard the pace…slow… then stop.

A moment, and then the steps came -back- towards the kitchen, Yu’ backing up, quite literally to stare into the kitchen like you weren’t so much ‘baking’ so much as ‘tangoing with a small blue elephant.’

He stood there, blinking for a moment and narrowed his eyes, tongue appearing just for a moment like he could -taste- the buns already even from where they rose in the oven.

“….what are you doing?” He asked with a tense sort of ‘casual’ inquiry that didn’t match the wire taught line of his shoulders.

“Nnno…no allergies that I know of.” He said sounding dazed. “… thats…really… nice?” It almost sounded like he was waiting for a catch.

“… What do I need to do for one?” Again trying to sound casual, he started to stuff his fingers into jean pockets and then hissed, shaking out a hand which had a bandage around one thumb.

“Yeah… I got uh…I got careless.” He shrugged. “Someone got behind me and didn’t say anything, and I was tossing something in the oven. Ended up cooking part of my thumb” He admitted.

He’d seriously considered decking someone over that, almost punched the stove because at least it wouldn’t press charges.

“It’s not awful… I just hate burns.” He added after a moment. “Whatcha need done?”

His eyes followed that line of flour and he, took half a step forward, paused, then swept forward grabbing a dish towel.
“Here, you’re gonna get it on your… Here.” He dabbed at the flower trying to brush it off. “Trying to be a ghost and it’s not even Halloween.”

“Eh…You’d be like, Casper or something, haunt people with christmas lights like, sparkly and saying ‘woooo’ and stuff, probably warning people that you have a goblin for a house mate.”

He shrugged and glanced at the pan with a nod. “I can clean, you should see the s**t that gets baked on when I cook.”

He tended to try and take care of the worst of the clean up, soaking what he couldn’t scrub off with a Brillo in vinegar and soapy warm water.

He fished under the sink for the gloves that were there for ‘saving hands’, normally he avoided them but he didn’t really feel like messing with the bandage on his hands.

“I… can’t cook sweets for s**t.” He admitted to distract from that as well. “Cooking is like, forgiving, you can pull something back from a shitty mix if you’re careful, but baking, I don’t know how many souls you sacrificed to pull this off but… it smells amazing.”
“Ironic because I will BASICALLY never say no to sugar.” He flashed a grin, the hint of sharp teeth as he prepared to clean.

“Try and wake me up early on a day off sometime, You will…absolutely see the resemblance.” He quipped.

He trailed off in what he was doing as Sterling rinsed his hands, and listening to the idea of… ‘slice of pie’ at three in the morning? He made a small, potentially indecent sounding groan.
“Well, it sounds like between us we have dinner AND desert covered.” He offered.

“If you…have meals you like a lot as left overs I’ll make them when our schedules are at odds.” He offered.

He hesitated and then took the gloves off nodding, it left him fussing a bit with a loose end of bandage.

“Uh…Yeah no butter sounds good, raisins sound great… that, smells like a delicious and indecent proposal so uh… yeah.”

“…I already burned one finger I can always fish those out for you.” He offered, half teasing. It -smelled- so damn good, waiting was like an itch.

“See… I will basically offer to murder someone and hide the BODY for good sweets.” He said like it wasn’t half a real offer.

“Do you prefer tea? Cause I can make tea… I will EVEN be a ‘not godless heathen’ as I have so often been informed that I am… and I will look up proper steeping times for the tea of your choosing.” He offered

“Godless heathen of steeping leaves mode will be ‘on hold’ for your tea.”

He glanced over at the sticky buns, glossy, oozing caramel and sweet plump raisins and made a small indecent noise.

“I will eat what ever you leave unguarded, first and only warning.” He flashed a sharp toothed grin.

“And I didn’t hear an answer on dinners.”

“I will have to splurge some night and test out what I’m up against then, if I can’t beat it I’ll contribute to acceptable pizza and wings.” He said pouring them each a tall glass of cold milk.

“Pizza is harder if you like it over a wood fire.” He glanced at the stove thoughtfully.

“Besides, it’s not like they don’t slap fancy names on basic foods sometimes. Its half to make it sound fancier and half to make some of it sound like something you wouldn’t reserve for your cat.”

He set the milk down at where they would each normally sit and then took the plate with its rich butter and sticky delights with a clear delight,

A malcontented noise as he set the plate and silverware down so that the milk would be properly put away but he did a half job back to his ‘place’ and slid into the chair like if he left it unattended, his treat might grow legs.

He almost just grabbed it with his fingers, glancing at Sterling and dipping his head slightly before picking up the silverware and cutting free a slice of the edge of it, lifting it to breathe deeply of the sugary scent before stuffing the oversized bite into his mouth, still hot enough that he was quickly fanning his mouth but savoring all the same.

He could have provided some very interesting sound effects with the throaty satisfaction the bite garnered.

“MmmmmFu—chSoGood.”

Yu was carefully, systematically even, carving away the outer edges of the bun and doing just as Sterling suggested, moving towards the ‘heart’ off it with a slow deliberation.

“I mean, I’d probably eat Brussel Sprouts if you coated them in chocolate, I’m not going to be a lot of help.” He chuckled softly around a bite of caramel and raisin.

His eyes glinted at the descriptions of the food though and he nodded, a thoughtful thing.

“Challenge accepted.” he said before tucking in another mouthful of bun.

“Not sure about the pizza, but I bet I can at least do the wings.” He offered, dragging a finger through some escaped caramel and licking it off his finger like an indecent proposal.

He hesitated and then looked away and said.

“I had …something once, I don’t know what it was, but it was all, like… pudding, but the top was sweet, little crunchy’ He shrugged. 
“When I was really young, you know? I thought it might be like… Flan or something but its not. And its not the tres leches either. I should probably ask the desert team, but apparently me being over there makes things go to s**t.” He flashed a sharp smile.