[Hypnosis Mic] Cooking Together

Jam Tarts

He removed the cup. A two and a four.

“Damn!” He handed one tart to Riou, and then one to Doppo.

Doppo dealt again. Dice called odd again, betting three tarts, and lost again. And then again. And was then out of tarts to bet.

“No waaay…” Dice complained.

Riou collected their dishes and took them away.

“You can have this one, Arisugawa-kun,” Doppo said, handing him the overstuffed pastry that he'd pointed out when they were making them.

Dice grumbled, but thanked him.

Riou came back and sat down in front of his collection of far too many tarts. “Let's play one more round. You can bet something other than tarts.”

“Yes! Thanks!” Dice clasped his hands together. “Let's see, um, if you win, I'll do one thing you say. Anything!”

Riou nodded, and Doppo dealt one more time.

“Six tarts on odd,” Riou called.

A pair of threes.

Dice pumped his fist in the air. “Woo!”

Now the tarts were spread much more evenly between them, and they felt ready for dessert.

“Ah,” Riou suddenly announced. “One moment.” Going to the kitchen one last time, he came back with three cups in one hand and the new French press in the other, trail of steam wafting out of it. He poured them each a cup. It didn't quite smell like coffee.

Doppo took a sip. “It tastes like… the pastry?” He guessed.

“Yes. Roasted barnyard grass seeds can be used just like coffee, but without caffeine,” Riou explained.

“I see! That's good to know.”

Dice was ignoring the drink for the moment to focus on the overfilled tart. He took one bite, and the jam spurted out around it, black goo dripping down from his face onto his white shirt with an extremely unpleasant sound. “Shit.”

Doppo rushed in to get a damp cloth to help him clean. “Sorry, sorry! I shouldn't have overfilled the pastry, I'm sorry.”

“Why the hell are you apologizing for me spilling beetle jam all over myself? Stop doting. I'm not your damn kid.” He pushed him away, taking the cloth. Oh, that's right, Dice hated when he apologized so much. Doppo just couldn’t break the habit. “Ugh, this is my only shirt right now. Gonna have to go to Gentaro's to wash it properly…” he grumbled to himself. “Eh. This is good enough for now.”

“You only have one shirt…?” Doppo asked, saying it as much to himself as to anyone else.

“Why would I need more?”

Doppo hesitated. Why would -- was he really asking that? “Well, when it gets dirty…”

“I wash it, duh. I'm not that gross.”

“What do you wear when you're washing your clothes, though?” Doppo asked. Maybe Dice had, like, pajamas, somewhere?

“Nothing?” Dice answered, looking at him as if it were extraordinarily obvious and he was the stupidest person in the world. Maybe he was.

“Well, that's a solution,” Doppo admitted.

“Yeah, it is!”

Doppo couldn't tell if Dice knew how ridiculous he was being. Maybe it was some long joke at his expense. Dice was just seeing how far he could go before Doppo finally admitted that it was too unbelievable for a person to think like that. But what if Dice was just like that? Then Doppo was just being horrendously rude to his lifestyle, even if it was an absurd one. Either way meant his reactions to the other would be wrong, and Dice would have every reason to hate him more.

His spiraling thoughts were interrupted by Riou talking to Dice. “Arisugawa-kun, if you're interested in making your own clothes, I can teach you.”

Dice waved a flippant hand in the air. “Eh, I got Ramuda to help on that front. Thanks, though.” He finally got back to his pastries.

They finished their dessert talking about nothing of any particular importance, Dice occasionally taking jabs at Doppo, and Doppo brushing them off. And even though they'd started dessert with an almost even number of tarts, they all ended up giving most of their share to Dice in the end.

Riou sent them each home with a jar of jam.