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After spending a good chunk of his life sleeping in the middle of nowhere deep in a dungeon, with one foot on a cold cobbled stone floor and the other locked between barely sheathed beastman claws, Chilchuck would have chalked up the experience of waking up to the warmth of another person next to him as a common occurrence.
And sure, he was used to it by now, the feeling of being jostled awake to go on another adventure full of copious amounts of unfamiliar food and inconveniently placed chests- He’d made a career out of it, hadn’t he? It should have been no big thing for him to wake up in another person's bed, in another person's home. So why was he this worried?
He vaguely recalled nights where it was Senshi’s turn to be on night watch, suffocating beneath the weight of Izutsumi’s tail tickling his nose and squinting past dancing shadows to stare at his back. He would distract himself with snarky remarks to keep his mind off of the itching feeling of claws digging into his calf. Because what else was there to think about, when Senshi’s helmet never seemed to come off? When he always seemed to be digging his knobby fingers into a new monster carcass to prepare it for transportation? At first, he’d find that it was easy to make fun of every single one of his teammates like this. Marcille and her fussy hair routine, Laios… in general, at least when he wasn’t trying to sneak a peek at the base of Izutsumi’s tail and Chilchuck didn’t have to throw a bag at him to get him to stop and focus.
These days, the thoughts about Senshi haven't stopped. What that said about his own psyche he wasn’t looking forward to finding out, but at some point or another his mind had started stepping out of the boundaries that marked the border between Vaguely Insulting and Suspiciously Endearing.
Because what else was there to think about, when Senshi’s soft snoring was the most annoyingly soothing sound at night? When he could roll into a warm spot on the bed without having to worry about the next time he’d have to leave it and go put his life in danger just to be fed something by those same knobby hands that leave his palms hot and clammy in his gloves after they barely brush fingertips.
But none of that mattered down in the middle of nowhere deep in a dungeon .
And as he listened to the sound of muffled footsteps coming somewhere out of his sight, he offhandedly wished to be buried underneath his eyelids again.
He couldn’t remember how long had it been since the last time he’d gone hungry ever since he met Senshi, At some point in his life he would have been happy to ignore the smell of food that accompanied the low hum of a pleased chef, but between the undefeatable softness of the bed and the smell of whatever concoction Senshi had come up with in the other room, his stomach hadn’t let him get a single word in, he found that he was finally okay with that.
He heard a soft grunt of acknowledgement as he turned the corner into the warmth of the kitchen, the smell of cooking oil washing over him as he hurriedly pulled the rest of his shirt on, smoothing down his front as he pulled out one of the chairs and made himself at home.
“Good to see you’re awake.” Senshi’s hair had been wrangled into a low ponytail, a few pieces of creased bed hair threatening to slip out of the loose tie and fall around his neck, Chilchuck enjoyed the sight shamelessly.
“What’re you making?” he said, Senshi replying to him without once turning around.
“Sausages, beans, tomatoes….” Calloused hands hit an egg on the edge of a pan, flawlessly dropping them into the crackling oil and discarding the shells. “D’ya like your eggs sunny?”
He hummed approvingly, Senshi kept cooking, because apparently, they were the kind of people who had slow mornings like these now. Ebbing and flowing into the day with sunny-side-up eggs, and beans, and sausages . The silences didn’t even feel awkward, in fact, they almost felt comforting- His listless thoughts punctuated as Senshi wiped his hands down on a rag, he could hardly believe what he could have done to deserve such a punishment.
“You alright?” Senshi asked, drawing his attention.
“I’m.. fine?”
“Your fingers sound like they’re gonna fall off with how much you’re tapping the table.” Senshi turned his attention to collecting some plates for the table, Chilchuck looked down at his fidgeting hands as if just finding them for the first time, before willing his fingers to stay still, and maybe his face not to betray how flustered he was. He let out a dry laugh as Senshi set a plate down in front of him.
“Sorry, nerves.”
“I don’t mind at all.” Chilchuck settled for placing a cheek in one hand, and traced the rim of the plate with his other.
Eagerly, Senshi picked a piece of egg off the hot pan and popped it into his mouth. Chilchuck mused, “I didn’t think of you as the kind to have something like beans and greasy sausages for breakfast.”
“What d’you mean?” He tuned out the sound of flames slowly dying.
“You’re always preaching about balanced meals, yeah?” Chilchuck blinked up at the dwarf as he set down the serving plates, “Just seemed odd to me.”
Senshi took his time to plate the food carefully, globbing steaming beans and egg onto his plate with a practised grace that made it hard to concentrate on the food when the chef themselves was such a masterful display, Chilchuck used the hand on his face to pinch his cheek. When did he become this corny? Senshi hadn’t answered the question he’d given him, and his thoughts were starting to run away from him in the time they weren’t talking- or he wasn’t busy ogling Senshi’s arms as he cooked.
“Doesn’t hurt to indulge,” Senshi said simply, setting down a tinted bottle on the table with a discreet kind of class. “‘Especially for an occasion such as this.”
Chilchuck paused, grinning up at him and eagerly snatching up the bottle along with a wine glass. “Are you suggesting we do this more often?”
Finally settling into a chair, Senshi extended a glass for himself- and Chilchuck didn’t need an answer, happy to top off the dwarf, still smiling into his first sip.
Senshi was cutting into a piece of tomato whilst Chilchuck said humorous something about having wine for breakfast, the atmosphere settling as they both tucked into their meals without another nod to whatever it was they had shared the previous night. That conversation would sort itself out in its own time. Senshi finished a mouthful of beans and washed it down with a sip of wine, speaking up.
“You said you were nervous?”
Chilchuck was caught in the middle of wiping some grease off of his face in a way that was rather unattractive, The question confusing him. “Uh-?”
“You were tapping the table, y’know-”
“No, Err, I got that.” Chilchuck stuck another sausage on his fork, Senshi tutted and handed him a napkin. Chilchuck took it graciously.
“Well, It’s normal to be nervous after something like that ‘s it not?” Chilchuck muttered into the napkin before tucking it beneath his place, the heat from the freshly cooked food suddenly feeling a little more intense than it was a few minutes ago. “Just worried I might mess something up, I’ll never know what I did to deserve all of…”
Chilchuck twirled his fork in the air, “This.” he declared.
He stuffed the last bite of meat into his mouth shortly after, watching Senshi contemplate the runny yolk of his egg.
“This?” he repeated gruffly.
Nodding carefully, Chilchuck took to humming pleasantly into another sip of wine to emphasise his point, (in his defence, it was exquisite .) setting down the cup with a satisfied exhale. A cloudy look passed over Senshi’s face, and only Chilchuck could have so quickly realised it was one of pride. At this, he hissed around a spoonful of egg. “Don’t look so pleased about it.”
Another sausage was decimated behind Senshi’s bushy moustache, and only Chilchuck could have seen the way his face had morphed into a display of clear smugness beyond fierce eyes.
“I was just imagining if you’d say that about my monster food.” He said matter-of-factly, Chilchuck was scandalised, most definitely being careful to keep his mouth closed around an entire spoonful of beans. “You definitely deserve to have plenty more of that, too.”
Much to Senshi’s glee, he chewed his food just enough to swallow it down thickly. “I take back everything I just said.”
At some point, what would have been a loaded conversation had fallen back into the steady, slow energy of the late morning, and Chilchuck could hardly keep his smile in check as Senshi placed down his utensils and chuckled softly, the liquid in the glass he was holding sloshing dangerously as his body shook with mirth. He downed the full glass, eyes shining.
“Just for the record, Chilchuck, I’d be happy to give it to you any time you like.”
Chilchuck pressed grinning lips together, teething the prongs of his fork.
“Sure you won’t regret that?”
Senshi’s expression relaxed, lifting up his glass in a display of true chivalry, a silent promise, an oath unsaid yet sworn nonetheless. Chilchuck barked out a laugh, and clinked his glass against it instantly.
Yeah, he could get used to this.