Too much to do

The kitchen

You decide to go to the kitchen. Maybe if you were lucky there would be some extra food laying out that no one wanted and you could help yourself to a little snack. Sometimes food really did end up getting left out because of how much of a recluse the guildpact was. He would often end up skipping meals by accident if there were no unhealthy foods (usually sweets) or coffee involved.

You slip in there and notice a plate of cookies and a plate of carrots cut into strips next to it. Obviously this was an attempt to get a certain someone to notice the carrots, but you had a feeling that Lavinia's latest ploy to get said person to eat healthy foods would just end in more disappointment.

Knowing that the plate of cookies was off limits and would probably be gone shortly after the next time you left the room, you decided to pick up one of the carrots and start munching on it. You were pretty sure that no one else would touch them anyway.

Suddenly, you heard footsteps coming from down the hallway. You quickly tried to stuff as many carrots into your mouth and finish eating them before whoever it was came into the room.

You failed and when you turned around, you were facing a burly man in armor with half a carrot strip hanging out of your mouth.

You blushed a bit, half from embarrassment and half from the fact that the man was very attractive. His body was well built, and his face was handsome in a way that reminded you of a stereotypical warrior. He had long brown hair and brown eyes that matched the rest of his appearance very well.

And you had just been cramming carrots into your mouth in front of him.

You slowly take the last carrot out of your mouth before trying to come up with some kind of desperate last minute explanation.

"I'm....I'm so sorry sir! It was just that....no one ever eats these things and I was really hungry and I...."

The man have you a look.

"You....shouldn't be cramming that many into your mouth at once. You could choke."

You nod at him slowly and put the carrot down on the table behind you.

"So you're not....mad at me for eating them?"

He pats your shoulder gently.

"As long as you don't eat this many again it should be fine. But you should bring a lunch from home next time."

You sigh in relief. The pat on the shoulder was reassuring and it calmed you down a little bit. At least he wasn't very angry at you for the carrots. If Lavinia had caught you...well, you didn't even want to think about that.

"Do you work here?" He asked.

You nodded.

"What's your name?"

"I'm ____." You told him. "I've never seen armor like your's before. Where did you get it?"

"Somewhere um, very far from here." He said, his face taking on a look of contemplation. "My name is Gideon and I'll be staying here for a few days."

You smiled a little bit. "So is it official business? This is the first time I've seen anyone stay here as a guest."

"It is in a way. I'm glad to be staying here, but this is a large building and I have to wait until the others are ready for the meeting."

"So you came down here early?"

"Yes. I prefer to start out my day as early as I can so that I can get the most put pf it."

"But.....there's barely anyone awake yet."

You kept talking with Gideon for a while. He was apparently someone from outside of the city and it was interesting to talk to him since you had never left the city yourself. He seemed to be a very kind and caring person, asking you how your morning was going and reminding you to not choke on carrots again before running off this his meeting.

You saw Gideon a few more times that week. He would always come into the kitchen very early and since you had apparently been put on kitchen duty all week since you had done such a good job on the first day, you kept running into him.

He would always ask you why you didn't pack a lunch, but you were too ashamed to tell him that you couldn't afford it. The money that you got from a job like this wasn't an incredibly large amount and you had to chose between eating and keeping your house quite often.

He would always give you a concerned look, but he never pushed the question too hard on you.

One day however, you were at the end of your rope. Your body felt like it was completely drained, but you had still come to work anyway. You felt like you were going to fall over and you felt dizzy just from standing still. Your stomach was past the point of simple hunger and past the point where the pain was even numb.

You could see a plate of vegetables in front of you, but you knew that you shouldn't touch it. Even if you knew better, the very sight of the food made you want to scream and tear your hair out. You knew you couldn't take it but it was something, anything. You needed it.

You heard footsteps coming from down the hall again. You had to look normal. You had to look presentable so that no one would suspect what was wrong. You tried to hobble over to the door, but you suddenly found yourself tilting over and falling after losing what little balance you had left. You could hear someone yelling your name before you blacked out, knowing that whoever it was would probably tell everyone and you would probably lose your job or have to deal with incredible amounts of shame for as long as you worked there.

You woke up with something warm holding you up, you opened your eyes and saw Gideon staring down at you. You tried to force yourself to smile and pretend like nothing had happened, but you could already see him shaking his head with an upset look on his face. He was holding you gently in his arms. Keeping you off the ground seemed easy for him.

"Why didn't you tell me...?"

You found yourself frowning. "I....didn't want to upset anyone....I was embarrassed...."

He reached for a bag that was next to him and opened it, looking for something.

"____, that isn't something that you should hide from someone who's trying to help you. You should have told me right away."

"What...?" You gave him a bewildered look "You want to...help me? You don't...think I'm bad...?

He pulled some kind of cooked meat out of the bag, gently slipping it into your mouth. You started chewing it almost immediately.

"I would never think that. You're a kind and a good person. No one should ever hate you for not being able to afford something."

You swallowed the bites of meat in you mouth and then suddenly found him pulling you close to his chest and hugging you. You felt warm. You felt safe. This was someone who cared about you. This was someone who wanted to make sure you were ok.

You found yourself hugging him back and burying your face into his chest. He put a hand on your shoulder again. "I can share my lunch."