VISION ||ONE-SHOT BOOK||

Chefs at Work

"Bitter dark chocolate with a tart raspberry kick." Dravos drew a finger across the page as he read, his hair half-covering his face and his nose wrinkled in concentration. In his hand, he held a spoon covered in batter. "But this tastes really sweet."

Fragil dumps a glass bowl dirtied with streaks of chocolate and whisk in the sink. "Sweet?"

"Yeah like....awfully sweet."

She sighs before walking over to him and poring over the recipe book. His shirt is covered in flour and his hands caked in batter. He got a steak of chocolate on the side of his mouth. Granted she is just as messy with her hair powdered white and her hands sticky with batter, raspberry compote and whipped cream. She took the spoon from him.

"Hey wait--!"

She licked it before immediately making a face.

"It uh.."

Dravos bit his lips, bracing himself for the blow.

"...tastes a bit different from what I expected."

He sighed, frustration knitting through his face. This was the desert Fragil had made on Valentine's Day which had admittedly been delicious and yet looked simple enough. Dravos's competitive side was not liking the fact that he had somehow failed at something. Who knew that baking a desert would be this complicated.

"How is it supposed to taste?" He asked in a defeated tone.

"The book really tells you about that." She responded with a stifled laugh. "Just how did you get it like this?"

"This book is wrong. Deserts are supposed to be sweet." He annoyingly responded, scowling at the pages of the recipe book.

The way he is all flustered and put off is something she rarely gets to see. Even in his constant battles with his rival and best friend, Xavier, he admits defeat with grace, when she is being the spectator of course. Seeing him like this, she couldn't resist the urge to tease.

"Is there something the great Dravos can't do?" She covered her mouth in mock disbelief.

He looked up at her, her eyes curled up in laughter. 'Two can play that game.'

He grabs hold of her fingers with a sudden movement, making her reel back in response. His hands were smooth and warm, along with being sticky from the batter. 

He takes her chocolate-covered fingers and puts his lips on them. He was surprised when the taste matched exactly from what the book said. Slightly bitter with a subtle tart sweetness from the raspberry.

"You are right." He said, taking a look at her face. The expression of shock on her face was pretty satisfying, though his heart is also pounding a little. "This does taste a lot better than from what I made."

Fragil's mind had completely gone blank. She withdrew her hand and looked away, her face being red as a cherry.

She glanced back at him when he went up to the counter, his gaze fixated on the recipe book. "It is just that the recipe is more difficult than it says to be."

'I am not losing this game.' Her eyes caught the spot of chocolate on the side of his cheek. "You have something on your face."

Dravos turns to face her but before he could react, she leaned up and her lips are right by his own. He froze as she darts her tongue out and licked his cheek.

Her mouth is smooth and warm and just centimeters away from his own.

For a second the two wondered, what would happen if they just turned a little and he bent over a bit while she craned her neck and--

They both pivot away from each other, not meeting each other's eyes for a few moments.

"A-all gone now!" Fragil says, her voice a few octaves too high. She grabs onto some dirty utensils and scurries away to drop them in the sink. 'What in the world came over me...'

"T-thanks..." Dravos muttered, looking down the book. He lifts his hand to touch his cheek. The sensation of her lips seems to linger on his skin and his heart simply cannot stop pounding.

(PS -  He ended up burning the desert and admitted his defeat.)
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