The food experiments

XV

Hal knew he wanted to start the date at time the sky went red. After all, they ended up together under a sunset.
He stopped drawing, his arms overwhelmingly tired from all the work. He left it all as organized and hidden as he could, threw himself on the bed and fell asleep right next to Miku in a matter of seconds.

______

The sky had a really beautiful blue today. It was clear, bright and saturated. No signs of snow on the ground anymore. Snake played with his dogs for hours, more comfortable so this time, given that he didn't have the need to wear several layers of clothes. His t-shirt was perfectly fitted to his body shape, allowing him to move without any kind of uncomfortable friction. The cigarette he had been smoking was half-way through by the time he heard Otacon's voice calling him from behind, right at the door: he had just woken up, his face had markings from the glasses and he was feeling rather lazy.

—You fell asleep like that? —David asked, walking to him and seeing the red marks on his nose and cheeks.

—Yeah... —he scratched his neck with really slow motions—. I got really tired.

—Did you have breakfast? Need something from me?

—I do.

Hal moved like a sloth, but managed to get a folded paper from his pocket, handing it to him.

—Another shopping list...? —he asked, not feeling too joyous about it.

—It's shorter than the other. It's only one item, actually. I just didn't feel like cutting the paper. And I made sure to write clearly this time... —he spoke as fast as he could, which wasn't much at all—. The thing is, you'll need to go to kinda far to get it.

—You need this now? —he read the paper, but although he understood the letters, he didn't know what they meant.

—I do. The store's called Jupiter, it's all the way north. You can ask around, shouldn't be too hard to find... You only need to show the paper to the guy, he'll know what it is.

Snake wasn't too sure about that but went inside to get ready. Otacon was still sleepy, but he felt good: everything was going according to his plan. He needed David out so he could drink some coffee and get his hands to cook. He intended to hang the cutouts and get the candles out while Snake was gone. He had lied - he knew Jupiter was quite hidden between small, angled streets, and most people around wouldn't know what that was. He'd need to find someone young and into underground music to know it was a small record store. He was sending him to unknowingly get the ambiental music for their date.

The truth is, he hadn't put any thought to the menu. He hadn't previously thought of doing all of this today. He was being impulsive, but somehow it felt like the right thing to do.

____

Snake kept reading the note from time to time, pondering what it could mean. He hadn't been able to come to any convincing result by the time he arrived to the town he needed to visit. He followed Otacon's advise despite his unwillingness to talk to people, and asked for directions.
He did this several times. Not too many for the average person, but way too many for someone like him. Everyone he asked was rather confused: "Jupiter? There's a store with that name around here? What kind of store is it?" was the kind of response he'd get, which of course he couldn't answer to, followed by the same amount of awkward silences of every one of them trying to decipher the text. He was getting tired of it, to the point he was complaining out loud.

—Where the hell is that Jupiter store?... —he grunted, anxiously agitating the piece of paper.

—You mean the record store? Is that what you're looking for? —a teenage girl asked, who suddenly stopped walking to help him out.

—Well, I don't know what it is. I guess so. All I got is this paper —he handed it to her—. Do you know what that is?

—Yeah, it's the record store —she nodded—. This is an album's title —she pointed it for him—, and this is the artist's name. They only sell it there, she's still too unknown for bigger labels. I can walk you there, if you want.

—That'd be great.

____

Otacon made memory of all the groceries David would buy with enough frequency to appear to be his favorite kind of food. Even though he made an effort, it didn't look like he had too much of a preference regarding what to eat. He noticed, however, that their storages and fruit bowls, more often than not, were covered in berries. They'd come in so many different colors, shapes and sizes, but if you payed enough attention to it, you'd've noticed there were two kinds he seemed to enjoy the most.

He took the salmonberry jam, opened it with difficulty —he had to resource to tricks, as his strength didn't move the lid at all—, and spread it on a few slices of bread. He also prepared a small bowl filled with raw blueberries, which he slightly decorated with a few mint leaves. He knew that, even if he ended up disappointing him taste-wise on the main dishes, these side appetizers would appease him well enough.
While he kept thinking what to cook, he hanged all of the doggies around the house with the help of the huskies: they'd bark at him all at once if they didn't like the composition he was building, sometimes some of them suggesting other places with their snouts or paws. Although he wanted to complain about how nitpicky they were being... They were absolutely right about their choices.