Inbok for @sticksandbones

[missinglink]

ppppbtbtbtbt

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[godsfavourite]

[ Tim is crunching. He seems to be having a delightful time- ]

Of course! We'll have to make some food for Kanda. Otherwise, he's going to turn into a bowl of soba noodles, I think.

[ Allen mentions this offhandedly as he grabs another egg, throwing his hand up and bringing it down to crack the egg against the counter. But when he brings his hand down, there's no egg???? Where did the egg go? Did he forget to grab an egg? His ADHD would do that, he thinks? Did he put it down?????????? Somewhere?

He looks around, until he realizes there's just... yolk. Right on Link's cheek.

Talk about "egg on my face"- ]

Uh- Wh- How am I so bad at this?

[missinglink]

[Ah......

Link stands there motionless as the egg and shells slide down his face, because Allen very much just lost the egg on the backswing and threw it into his face. He blinks a few times as the yolk slowly drips off him and plops onto the floor.

Good Lord they're making such a mess.]

A...little less force, next time.

[He says with an alarming amount of patience as he grabs the same cloth from before to wipe egg off his face.]

[godsfavourite]

R...Right. Uh. Are you okay...? [ Like, eggs don't usually hurt, but.......

This is turning out horribly. There's only three left. He's... got this. It's fine.

This one at least ends up in the bowl, but it's also like 15% shell, so. Is he getting worse? He thinks he's getting worse- ]

[missinglink]

I'm fine. You're doing fine.

[And they can always get more eggs, it's all gucci. Link decides to not interfere, wanting Allen to have the rest of the eggs to see if he can break one one-handed at least one time.]

Remember, break the egg gently on a flat surface. Then, press your thumb against the bottom edge of the crack and pull the halves apart, using your other fingers for leverage. It should come open with enough force without any shells getting in the bowl.

[godsfavourite]

[ Allen grabs the carton of eggs from the side where the eggs are not. This is a mistake because gravity exists. He just watches as the carton flops from his hand and splatters the last two eggs on the floor.

........................................................

While Timcanpy eats the eggs off the floor, Allen slowly lowers himself to the floor.

And just lays on it face down.

Don't look at him- ]

[missinglink]

Wh-

[And just like that, they had no eggs left. To be fair, a LOT of them made it into the bowl- plenty for breakfast- and Tim is making sure they don't have a mess to clean up, but...oops.

Link purses his lips as he closes the carton and sets it aside, bending down to pat Allen on the back.]

...that's alright. We can get some more eggs after breakfast. If you don't mind having more eggs for dinner, I can show you how to make a Quiche and we can practice the technique some more.

[godsfavourite]

[ Lifts his head and looks So Fucking Soggy. ]

Yeah...? I'd like that. [ Sniff. ] Please don't be upset with me if I haven't improved yet. I promise I'm trying...

[missinglink]

I would say for having tried only a few times, you didn't do that badly. I would have been shocked if you hadn't dropped any eggs at all.

[He stands back upright, pulling out a whisk so he can start beating the eggs.]

Come on. Kanda will be through with his meditation soon, so let's get breakfast done before then.

[godsfavourite]

[ He nods and stands as well. ]

What... can I do to help? [ He can... put butter in the pan...! He isn't sure that's the most helpful thing to do here. ]

[missinglink]

[Thinking, thinking...

Link hands Allen a skillet, then nods to the strips of bacon still in the package on the counter.]

Can you start to cook these while I get the mixture going for the toast? They should fry up pretty quickly, just flip them once they start to shrink.

[godsfavourite]

[ Great news! Allen doesn't suck with this. It's hard to fuck up bacon. The pan does eventually spit at him when the Grease becomes an issue, but Allen has the sense to move it off the burner before flipping the bacon so he doesn't burn himself.

Unfortunately, the stove is covered in spittle of grease from where the pan spits it out, but, uh, such is life. ]

[missinglink]

[Good boy :)

Link finishes mixing the eggs, then gestures to the bread once Allen finishes with the bacon.]

Alright, take a piece and dip each side well into the eggs. Don't let it get too soggy, but make sure it's in the mixture long enough to get saturated. Turn on another pan and brown them on both sides.

[godsfavourite]

[ Again, he does as instructed, looking to Link occasionally as if to say “like this?” When he plops the toast into a new pan, he’s practically just staring at it. ]

How will I know when to flip it? Does it get smaller, like the bacon?

[missinglink]

[Link shakes his head, picking up a spatula so he can show him.]

While the egg cooks, it will start to brown on the bottom. You can lift up the edges gently to check. Once it's browned, but not burned, you flip. Give it about the same amount of time on the other side and it should be done.

Egg cooks fast, so be careful not to forget and let it burn.

[godsfavourite]

But it's so... floppy from the egg mixture. It's a little hard to put the spatula under it. Why can't the French just put beans on their toast and call it good?

[missinglink]

Well, beans on toast is a completely different dish...

[Link shakes his head a little, taking the spatula for a moment so he can show Allen what he means.]

You don't need to check it right away. Give it a minute or two, then nudge the edges with the spatula to see if the bread has gotten a little hard. Usually by then it's good to flip.

Breaks open ur inbox with a sl--- (I'm here again)

[godsfavourite]

[ Allen is using Timcanpy to replay his conversation with Kanda, basically over and over until he can get a grasp of everything he did wrong and make a mental note of it. He's buried in his bed with the blankets all kicked off and hanging over the edge.

He closes Tim's mouth the moment Link enters, though, and lulls his head to the side to look at him. ]

Link. What do you think about this place? Our situation and such? I feel as though... you don't talk much about your opinions.

I'd like to know them.

heehee tee hee

[missinglink]

[By this point, Link has poured over every piece of information that's available that he can. Reading back years worth of writings in the notebooks, putting tabs on pages and dogearing even more to make sure he doesn't lose the important parts. While he wouldn't call himself an expert, he feels more confident now knowing he has a better grasp of what's going on. The situation with Suri, the Gods and Goddesses that preside over this world, and the inadvertent role they play in all of it.

Allen is right in that he hasn't had much opportunity to speak on it, less because he's felt like he can't, and more because it just didn't present itself. When he isn't cooking, he's studying. Reading, going through the archives, talking to people. The one thing he hasn't done yet is try to explore the forest on a deeper level, which he's already decided not to do unless he can get both Allen and Kanda to come with him. It seems a difficult task anyway without the proper item to help you along, which he hasn't purchased yet, so...it's a work in progress.

In the meantime...Link hasn't been completely unaware of what his roommates have been going through. He's not sure if they'd intended their conversations to be private, exactly (not that he's been intentionally listening in), but they often get so loud that it's hard not to overhear. He hasn't heard everything, but...some snippets have come through. It's strange, because he wouldn't be the first to claim Allen and Kanda are close (not in the same way Allen and Johnny are, surely), but at the same time the two are butting heads like brothers near constantly. He's stayed in the same room with Allen for months, meanwhile, and their altercations have typically been a lot fewer and further between...not in the least due to the fact Kanda has a temper on him, but they're all in a stressful situation. It just makes sense that emotions are running high.

He doesn't know what he should be doing, but he certainly feels like it isn't enough.

He walks in with one of his notebooks tucked under his arm, not the netbook but a blank one he's been writing his own notes and thoughts in. He pauses as Allen addresses him, frowning just slightly as he sets the book down on the bedside table before having a seat at the foot of the bed.]

It's been as difficult as anything else to comprehend, but I feel confident saying that you, Kanda, and myself were not singled out for the purpose of being brought here as I initially feared. This world's situation is divorced from the Holy War as far as I've been able to tell. There has been no record of mention of Akuma here, though it's not uncommon for this settlement to be overrun by monsters not unlike them.

[He takes a slow breath.]

Furthermore, judging by accounts from both past and present residents, time doesn't pass normally back home as it does here. If we were to wake up back in our world tomorrow, I think we would come to find that it would be as if we'd just fallen asleep for the night. We can take some solace in knowing that the War will not progress in our absence, for better or worse.

[godsfavourite]

[ At least they didn't bring up the kiss while here. Then again, both of them have the intelligence to NOT talk about that in the house with Link. They know, they're aware--

Allen sighs in relief, leaning his head back into the pillow and letting out a sigh of relief that almost visibly makes him relax for the first time in... fuck, years, probably- ]

That is good news. A huge weight off my shoulder, in fact. It means we don't have to feel bad that we're not rushing in to fight that forest entity.

[ Timcanpy turns around from Allen's stomach and flies up to land on Link's head. Hello, he is here :) ]

But I didn't mean about new information, you know. I meant your opinion, as a whole. What your thoughts are, not just your observations.

[missinglink]

[Oh, hi Tim. Link will let him sit there as always, crossing his legs and looking down into his lap as he tries to come up with a better answer.]

It's clear this place is dangerous. We just haven't been here long enough to see it yet. I think we might get a better sense of how dangerous once we canvass the Forest.

[And inevitably like. Die about it probably.]

And I'm still unsure what to make of this world's past, and the idea that we have always been intrinsically linked to it.

[He folds his arms, eyes falling closed.]

...however. Strange as it may be...I wholeheartedly believe we are safer here than back in our world. At least here, we are universes away from the Noah, the Earl, Apocryphos...

[The only thing Allen cannot escape is Nea.]

We have been afforded the blessing of time.

[godsfavourite]

[ ...Ah.

It's unsurprising to hear how much Link has thought about things, and even more unsurprising that he's tied a lot of his opinions to fact and refused to untether the two. Even now, he starts to spout more fact at Allen... until he says that. That they're safer here. That they've been afforded a blessing. What Allen hears is... realistically, what he was oh-so selfishly hoping to hear from Link for some time. He shouldn't have wanted it, shouldn't have been waiting, shouldn't have tried to pull it out of Link, but it is hard not to, when he so desperately wanted to hear it from him.

"I want to be here for you, not Nea."

It isn't those words exactly, but it's what Allen hears. He picks himself up to sit up on the bed, scooting so he's sitting next to Link on the bed. His smile is... calm? No, something else. It carries the weight of someone who's putting together just how much someone cares for him. It's a smile he's worn a few times lately. How foolish he is to not have seen it before. How foolish he is to not realize he means something so deep to his friends. He doesn't quite understand why. He feels he has not earned such affection, such love. All the same, his heart feels so... warm.

He gently puts his head against Link's shoulder. ] I see.

...Thank you for sharing. [ Allen isn't sure he wholly agrees. After all, he's well aware that people suffered quite a lot here. But, he can see where Link is coming from. More than anything, he's happy to hear Link talk about it, unfettered from any biases for once. ] I can agree somewhat... you seem a little happier, you know. Maybe it's just because we're not in such high stress situations at the moment, but it's nice to get to see you relaxed. I didn't think Howard Link would have an off switch, haha~

[missinglink]

[Link is definitely not aware that Allen is seeing directly through him, but...he isn't wrong. Link has been struggling with the two parts of himself for the last half-year or so that Allen has been on the run. One half, the half that is devoted to Central, has a duty given to him by his Commander to protect and ally with the Fourteenth by whatever means necessary...to be prepared to give up his life for him. The other half...just as prepared to give everything, but not for Nea.

For Allen. Allen Walker. Allen, who he desperately- selfishly- hopes can find his way to freedom. He isn't sure how possible it is, for him to pull his own identity out of the mire Nea is creating inside of him, but he has to hope that if anyone could find a way, it would be Allen.

Link looks at Allen out of the corner of his eye as he lays his head on his shoulder, the smallest hint of a smile pulling at his lips.]

I wouldn't call myself relaxed, per-say...but we have had the chance to rest more than I think we have in a long while.

[It helps to not literally be constantly moving so you aren't spotted or captured but you know. This calm before the storm will not last.]

May I ask how you are feeling, right now?

[godsfavourite]

I guess that's true! I feel like I've slept more the past few days than I have in months! [ Haha! Wow! What a funny and silly thing to joke about and not at all wildly concerning, Allen! ]

We've already discussed before, when I couldn't meditate, right? My brain doesn't shut up, so I've got a lot of feelings about a lot of things. We might be here a while if you're not more specific. [ He laughs, picking up his head so he can face Link proper. ] But if you're talking about right this instant, what feeling is at the forefront? I'm happy now. To hear you talking about this, and... just knowing I have you here with me at all is comforting.

[missinglink]

I'm glad to hear that.

[Because...he feels like Allen hasn't been happy for a long time. Not truly. He's been through so much, and he's not really had a second to breathe or process any of it. That's come through with the way he's been having those constant nightmares.]

Right now is good enough. But...if there is anything you want, or feel like you need to talk about, I will listen.

[godsfavourite]

Well, that's a two way street, you know, Link! So you gotta say you're okay with it, too, okay? I know I'm not near as good of a listener as you are, but I promise I know how to shut up long enough to let someone finish talking about what's on their mind. I promise!