Live for me (Choso x Reader)

Melon Pan ~ Ch39

(Y/n)'s Point Of View

By the time I trudged into the kitchen after showering and getting dressed into fresh clothes, I found Choso already there, waiting for me with an apron around his waist that said 'Don't exorsise the chef.' My expression went dead still, processing it.
"Why are you wearing Mahito's apron?" I asked, blinking slowly.
"He suggested that I should." Choso told me, making me sigh.

I shook my head lightly as I pulled my apron off the hook by the fridge, tying it behind my back without another word. Mahito didn't cook enough to actually need an apron, but sometimes he liked to sit on the counter and annoy me as I made our meals- and that was enough to deem himself worthy of an apron.
"I'm honestly suprised you showed up. I thought you'd chicken out." I admitted.
"I made a promise." Choso replied. He seemed very serious about upholding promises.

"Yes, I guess you did." I agreed as I moved towards the sink to wash my hands. As I washed them, my eyes flickered towards the entrance of the living room. It was odd that nobody was down here yet, complaining about the lack of breakfast on their tables.
"I'm surprised that nobody has come down yet asking for food." I told Choso.
"Mahito took them out for a morning football session on the beach to increase their appetite....though, I didn't think there was a beach near by." Choso mumbled the last part absentmindedly to himself.

An image of the beach domain popped through my mind, instantly knowing where Mahito had taken them. The only question I could think of was, why?
"That's good. It gives us the time we need to bake." I told Choso, opening the cupboards and pulling out the ingredients we needed. Luckily, I still had a lot of what I needed from the time I went shopping with Choso.

I placed all the ingredients out on the counter before turning to Choso.
"Today, we're making melon pan." I announced, 100% sure that he had no idea what that was. Even so, Choso nodded, letting a few of his baby hairs falls against his eyes as he nodded.
"We're going to have to do something about your hair. You can't bake like that." I mumbled, waking over to him. My hand lifted to his hair before freezing in midair.
"May I?" I asked softly, making him nod.

That's when I reached up towards his two buns, but even then, I wasn't high enough to see where the hairband was in order to gently pull it out.
"Could you...possibly bend down? You're very tall." I whispered shyly. Instead of bending down, Choso grabbed onto my waist and lifted me onto the high countertop. He then lowered his head, allowing me to see the top of his head much more clearly. I cleared my throat, fighting the blush that tried to taint my cheeks.

I plucked out the hairbands from both of his buns, allowing it to flop lazily against his head. I gulped as he looked up at me, looking painfully attractive as he looked at me through his hooded lids, his hair spilling over his forehead. I cleared my throat again, snapping out of my daze before gently grabbing him by the shoulders and spinning him around so that I was facing his back. I put both his hairbands around my right wrist as I began gathering his hair into a small low pony tail. I then looped it so that it was a bun as I contained it with the hairbands.

Choso then spun around when I was done, his hair successfully in a little man bun that I immediately regretted doing after seeing how good he looked with this hair style. How on earth was I supposed to concentrate when this was beside me? I quickly hopped off the counter, refusing to look him in the eyes.
"That's...better. Now, wash your hands." I croaked out, motioning to the sink.

After Choso obediently washed his hands, I washed my hands again before drying my hands and handing him the towel so he could dry his too. After my hands were dry, I reached forward to pick up the bag of flour that was already half used. The last time I baked, I folded the edges together to make sure none of it would tip over or spill.
"So first we can start by measuring the-" I cut myself off, looking over at Choso as I began to explain only to notice the white power that was dusted across his cheek and forehead.

I stood their silently for a few second, completely baffled, looking up and down at the half-curse and the flour in my hand that I had yet to unravel.
"Choso, how do you already have flour on your face? I haven't even open to bag." I asked baffledly. The man didn't answer, averting his gaze. I sighed, leaning forward to grab a wash cloth before wetting it and gently wiping down Choso's face until he was flour free.

"Okay, how about you start with the eggs and I'll handle the flour?" I suggested, picking up three eggs from the packet.
"Here are three eggs. Crack them into this bowl while I do the flour." I instructed, sliding the bowl towards him. I picked up the flour bag and unraveled it, watching Choso from my peripheral vision. He blankly stared at the eggs in his hand, his eyes traveling to the bowl baffledly. Then he crushed all three eggs within his palm, letting it all spill out into the bowl.

I stopped what I was doing immediately, turning towards Choso with part lips, looking up at him in pure awe, completely speechless. The cursed womb spirit had absolutely no idea that he had done anything wrong in the slightest, staring at me expectedly, waiting for his next instructions.
"That's...not exactly what I meant." I told him carefully, taking the bowl from Infront of him and pouring it into the trash.

"I mean, more like this." I said, demonstrating by cracking a single egg against the counter and pouring it in the bowl, throwing the shells into the bin.
"You only need one gentle but firm hit, split it open and then pour the egg in the bowl and then throw the shells into the trash." I instructed, "Now, you try." I handed him another egg, now watching carefully as he followed my instructions- cracking the egg almost perfectly.

"There's a shell inside." The cursed womb spirit told me, pointing at the tiny shell that managed to get into the bowl too, floating on the yolk.
"That's fine. Just pinch it out and throw it away." I told him. He then done what I asked with a small nod.
"See, you're learning." I praised with pursed lips, still unable to smile.

"Now, we measure the flour." I told him, turning around towards the drawers and pulling out a weighing scale for food. When I turned back to face Choso, I paused midstep, seeing the flour in his hands and more powder across his nose. He looked at me as if he'd been caught red handed, slowly putting the flour down onto the counter.
"Again?" I asked breathlessly, "It's like you're doing this on purpose."

Choso gulped as I got another clean towel, wetting it before wiping his face clean for the second time today.
"Okay, now we measure 300 grams of the flour using this weighing scale." I said, forcing Choso to be the one to pour the flour in, bit by bit until the digits on the scale hit 300. We weighed out every other ingredient one by one in the same way until it was all ready to be mixed to create dough.

I had Choso nead the dough, teaching him step by step how to do it. Every five minutes, he seemed to get flour on his nose after sprinkling it over the counter. I wasn't even sure how at this point and could no longer question it. When the dough seemed to be neaded enough. I rolled it into a giant ball and placed it on a brand new backing tray.
"Now we put it in the fridge for half an hour to let the dough get a little firmer." I told the man, handing him the tray which he then put into the fridge for me.

"What now?" Choso asked me after coming back from the fridge, watching as I took away all the old ingredients and replaced it all with a completely different set of new ingredients.
"Now we make the custard filling. Melon pan doesn't usually have filling, but I've always thought that was boring." I told him, truthfully.

It took us just over half an hour to make the custard filling and then another half an hour after that to fill the dough with the custard. Choso kept accidently squishing the balls when he placed them on the baking tray- right after I'd just put the custard in, forcing us to start over again and again. I blamed his cursed womb spirit strength.
"Now we put it in the oven for an hour." I told him as I slid the tray into the oven.
"And now?" He asked me.

"We wait." I replied, kneeling down onto the floor. I hugged my arms around my knees as I stared into the oven.
"...did this all make you feel better?" Choso then suddenly asked me.
"Hm?" I replied, feigning ignorance.
"The baking. Did it...help?" He asked. I rocked myself back and forth ever so slightly before whispering a weak,

"Not at all."

(A.N ~ I hope you enjoyed!)

Chapter 40 Quote Teaser :

"(Y/n), have you seen anyone this morning? I can't seem to find- ah, Choso it's you. Where's (Y/n)?"