New Day New Decade (Hiatus)

Animal

I walked into the dorms to find the majority of my classmates in a silent lazy circle in the common area. Some were sleeping others were too tired to look at their phones or turn on the TV so they laid there and just looked at the ceiling. It was fair with everything that had just happened so I didn't pay any mind to it as I walked into the kitchen where Denki was at work attempting to make dinner for everyone. 

We had ended up with the rest of the week off so we could recuperate and now that's what just about everyone was doing. "Heya cutie whatcha making?" I asked as I walked over to the island and sat down as I watched him work in a panicked hurry. 

"Izu I am scrambling because I have not a single damn clue of what I am doing. I always had people cooking for me or I lived off microwave dinners and this recipe is just confusing." He said as he turned to me looking like he was about to cry. 

"Alright let me see what you got so far. I can help so just calm down." I got up and made my way over to him. 

"Wait you're not going to your dorm?"

"No, I ate before I got here and besides the others are too tired and still trying to process everything to wander about too much. Let's get cooking and I can show you how to do things as we go so you'll know what to do next time."

"Oh my god, I fucking love you! Everyone would be fucked if not for you." I laughed as I came to a halt next to him and looked at the mess before me. 

"Oh my... What are you trying to make? The monster from the black lagoon? Or wait a poison disguised as overcooked flour?" That earned me a punch to the arm as I let out a chuckle. I looked over to Denki whose face was flushed pink from embarrassment and I noticed how tears pooled slightly. "Hey, I'm sorry I shouldn't have said anything but I was just trying to lighten the mood. Let's clean up and then we can start over okay?" I told him as I wiped away a tear that had pooled over.

"Okay..." That was all I received as an answer before we got to work on cleaning the mess and refilling our materials for some homemade Alfredo sauce. 

"So based on the ingredients I see, you were going to make some sort of Alfredo dish?"

"Yeah, I was going to make a Chicken Alfredo casserole." I nodded then got out a large pot for the noodles, a smaller pot for the sauce, and a pan for the chicken. 

"Alright, first what kind of noodles did you want to use? We should put those on medium heat so they can cook while we work on the sauce and cook the chicken."

"I was going to use some Penne noodles, I forgot to grab them out since I got so engulfed with trying to figure out how to make the sauce."

"All good it happens. Why don't you go grab out two boxes and put them into the pot? That way we can soften them before we put them in the casserole dishes and cook them in the oven. Once we have that going we can get started on making the sauce." Denki nodded with an air of determination and went over to the pantry to get the boxes out while I got started on chopping up some of the chicken that had been made up a few days ago. 

I heard him pour the noodles in and then he came over and watched me work carefully with the knife. "The slices look so fancy, did you work as a chef or something?"

"Perhaps, now why don't you get to work on making the sauce? I'll walk you through it so just follow my words and stay calm alright? I'll work on making some more cooked chicken and making these pieces moist again." Denki had a nervous look wash over his face before determination showed up once more. 

"Alright, I'm ready when you are."

"First put four teaspoons of oil in the pot, not olive oil though. Then I got a jar of minced garlic the other day so can you grab the out of the fridge and put 3 teaspoons in?" I noticed him nod from the corner of my eye and watched as he did just as I had asked.