Core Memory (Lolix)

Chapter Five

A sweet, filling aroma soon filled the air of the Callahan home. Only two were awake so far, and it was decided between them that the best way to spend their early morning was to make breakfast for everyone to enjoy together.

"Now, when mixing, the only chunks you should have is those of the chocolate chips. When you're done it should be a nice tan-ish color."

Felix nodded his head at the instructions, continuing his mixing motion. Delilah, Rue's mother, was the first to be up, and when he had made his way out of his room, she had asked him what he would have liked to do for breakfast.

Ever since he had first moved in with them, Delilah had taken it upon herself to help him out when it came to meals and the like. She would drag him into the kitchen to help her cook dinner or do little minuscule things with him, like teaching him how to thread a needle, claiming that they were brain-stimulating activities.

"Is this good?" He questioned, tilting the bowl he had in hand towards Delilah for her to check his work.

"Hm, keep working at it for another minute and then we can start."

She was always nice to him. A part of him would assume that ever since her daughter had moved out, she missed having another person to do things with. When Rue's father had started talking to him about setting him up for a job, Delilah had insisted he work for her to help her around the house, tend to the chickens out back, even gardening. It was settled between them, and they had even set up a paycheck for him to get at the end of every week, even though he was sure, if he had asked, they would lend him some money anyway.

"There, that looks perfect!" She hummed, taking the bowl from his hands as she poured the batter for the start of their second batch of pancakes into the frying pan. According to her, Rue's father, Liam, ate the most pancakes, so they always had to make more than one batch just so everyone else had enough to eat. He remembered laughing at the story as she told it to him, after all, who the hell would eat that many?

The sound of footsteps could be heard, and soon enough Rue and Liam had emerged from the hall. They really were alike, huh?

"Ah, pancakes! Sweet!" Rue said giddily, using Felix's shoulder to raise himself a bit to get a better whiff of the smell.

Felix gently shoved Rue off of him, "What do I look like kid, your step ladder?"

Rue rolled his eyes in response as he reached over, flicking Felix's ear, "If you were, you would've already been crushed under my weight."

"Is that an insult or a moment of self-recognition?" He shot back, a grin on his face as he rubbed the ear Rue had flicked.

Being the dramatic little shit he was, Rue put a hand onto his chest, letting out a gasp, "How dare you! I am just so hurt that you even said that!" He faked a sniffle, "You have broken my heart, Gates, it is utterly shattered."

"Wow, I didn't realize you were trying out for the drama club Rue, I'm sure they'd welcome you with open arms." He snorted, turning his attention back to the pancakes.

Delilah could only let out a giggle at their small banter. "Now, now, boys, what happened to being nice to each other?"

"I suppose after living under the same roof for a few days, they realized how much a pain in the ass the other was." Liam laughed, ruffling their hair despite their protests.

Although it was his form of greeting, Felix couldn't help but get playfully annoyed at constantly having to fix his hair. He's gotten used to all of their forms of greetings if he was being honest. Liam's was the hair ruffling, Delilah's was shoulder touches, and Rue's? Being a pain in the ass upon sight, and using him as a fucking stool to seem taller despite them being the same height.