Take a Picture, It'll Last Longer

• Chapter Sixteen •

As you and Ted sat on the couch chatting for a while until your stomach started to grumble. Causing Ted to chuckle a little bit. "Hungry eh?" He joked as you laughed lightly. "Apparently so. I got food I can make for us in the fridge if you'd like. Or we could order takeout if you want. Pizza even." You said as you got up, stretching out your arms. "What do you have?" He asked sweetly. "Well I was planning to make a dish thats basically like chicken in a creamy mushroom sauce." You said as you looked down at him. "That sound delicious already. Would you want help?" He offered, looking up at you. "If you wouldn't mind." You replied as he nodded his head, "My pleasure." He stood up, cupping your face for a moment before placing a kiss on your forehead.

Sitting there with a large smile on your face you snapped out of your daze quickly, walking over to the kitchen to prepare dishes. Ted followed behind as he waited for your next command. "So the first things I need are the chicken, I gotta cook 'em on the stove first. If you don't mind grabbing those from the freezer for me." You said as you grabbed out a pan. Ted opened up the fridge door first, closing it and then opening the freezer door. "Aha! Freezer-" He said goofily. "You'll find your way around here eventually." You joked.

You both moved around the kitchen for quite some time. Grabbing things, mixing others. To say the least you we're having a really fun time. Once you had finally finished up everything you stood there proud. It all looked delicious and you couldnt wait to dig in. Before that would happen you felt arms snake around your waist and a head plopped onto your shoulder. "I love you" Ted said quietly into your ear. It made you giggle lightly. "I love you too. Thank you for helping me cook." You said as you turned your head slightly, kissing his temple. "Of course baby, anytime." He replied as he stood back up straight, walking over to the otherside of the kitchen island. "I will grab us some forks and knives." You offered, opening up a nearby drawer for the utensils. The plates had already been laid out and Ted was picking out his share of food. You both had successfully made creamy mushroom chicken, with buttered noodles and a side of rice.

As you sat down on the opposite side of the kitchen island you started to pick out the food you wanted. Having a curious cat meow at your feet. "Yes yes- I hear you. Do you want some chicken?" You say as you look down at Zelda, she meowed in response as you took a small piece and threw it on the ground for her to eat. "There you go girl. Enjoy" You say as you look back up and at Ted. "She's gonna be so spoiled and honestly I'm not even gonna be mad-" You said with a laugh, causing Ted to laugh too. "She'll be a spoiled brat, but atleast a cute one." He retorted.

You both dug into your food happily. When Ted took his first bite you could see his face light up. "Holy shit this is really good babe." He complimented with a mouth full of food. "Couldn't have done it without you." You replied. He swatted his hand in the air lightly and shook his head. "I'm sure you could've, I just helped that's all." He said digging his fork into the food. "Well some would disagree. Love is a big part of cooking and I'd say my love for you really made this work." You say as he just smiles widely with a slight blush. You loved seeing him flustered, it was cute and funny all together.

After some more fork-fuls of food and some teasing banter you both finished up and put your plates in the sink. "I'll put them in the dishwasher later. It's not full yet." You said as you laid your utensils into the sink as well. "Well now that we filled ourselves, what do we wanna do next?" You continued while looking over at Ted. "Well it's pretty late in the day. I don't know if we wanna go out or stay inside." He stated as you looked at your phone checking the time. "Ah shit your right. Well I don't mind staying home," You started as you began walking around your living room for a moment. Ted sitting back down on the couch. "I have board games, video games, movies, paint and canvases. Anything you wanna do I probably have." You stated as you sat on the floor. Ted pondered for a moment, hearing the slight hum emit from his throat. "A movie sounds nice. Any in particular?" He asked as it was your time to think for a moment. "Honestly I hardly watch a lot of movies so I'd be okay with watching ones that you may have seen before. The most of what I watch are like Marvel movies and Tim Burton films." You said with a slight chuckle.

"Hmmm. You ever see Shawshank Redemption?" He asked as you shook your head. "Nope. Not even clips. Heard a lot about it but even then I still hardly know what it is." You reply as Ted looks slightly surprised. "Welp, guess what we're watching then... Get your butt over here-" He said with a slight joke as you still sat on the floor. "I'm comin' gimme a second." You say with a laugh as you get up off the floor and cuddle next to Ted.

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After a short couple of hours you and Ted finished up the movie and decided it was time for bed. You both had been pretty tired, him especially cause he was jetlagged. So you both laid down in your bed together. Ted made sure you were absolutely comfortable with him sleeping with you and it was really sweet. You reassured him that you were fine and that he should get some rest. You expressed that you had a lot planned for tomorrow. He finally laid down and cuddled you, falling asleep rather quickly. You however didn't fall asleep as easy. Seeing as this was the first time in a while thst you laid next to someone. You weren't really used to it. So naturally you just stayed up for a little bit on your phone, hoping that it would make you feel tired enough.

After 30 minutes of mindlessly scrolling through tiktok you got a message from a random number. You opened it and it just was a picture of a nearby store. You didn't think much of it considering it was also a local area code. You shrugged of the weird text and just continued aimlessly scrolling through tiktok for the rest of the night. Eventually you were able to fall asleep even with Ted's almost deathgrip like hold around your waist.

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You woke up the next morning to Ted rubbing circles on your back. You stirred slightly as you flipped over to face him, your head touching his chest. "Goodmorning bug." He said softly as you hummed in response. You we're never a morning person. This caused him to chuckle as he began playing with your hair. "I see someone doesn't like mornings." He teased. You groaned a little "Uh uh" while shaking your head slightly. "Well a special little cat says otherwise." He replied as you could hear a distant meow from the other side of your bedroom door. Mentally you groaned as you physically laid in place. "She can wait, cuddles first." You said groggily. "Works for me." Ted retorted with a slight laugh, kissing the top of your head lovingly.

For a good 20 minutes you both sat there in silence. Holding each other for what seemed like forever. That was until Zelda started scratching at the door. You groaned as you finally got up from the bed and opened the door. "Bad girl- we do not claw at doors." You said to her as you took the spray bottle full of water on your dresser and sprayed her with it. She quickly pranced away as you placed the spray back down. Walking over to Ted's side of the bed as he was sitting up stretching. You sat down next to him and hugged him some more before kissing his cheek lovingly. He did the same for you before he actually got up from the bed. You following right after, needing to go see what your cat actually wanted.

As you walked into the kitchen you could see that she spilled some of her water in the middle of the night. Assuming that she was meowing because she was thirsty, you took her water bowl and filled it up for her. "There ya go babygirl. Don't be such a clutz next time." You said petting her as she drank from the dish. Ted began looking through your cereal cabinet looking for something to eat. "Damn you got all these weird ass cereals." He said jokingly. "Yeah and I'm weird. So it fits." You retorted with a small laugh. "You know what. You got a point." He said with a chuckle.

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Lots of love ❤️ -Ete/Onyx