[She can't help it, as much as she wants to greet him with a smirk or a sneer, when she hears the dogs start barking, she ends up grinning. Imagines him struggling to keep them in check, and thinks that at least the snowgie is in his pen. Right?
So he catches her with this fond little grin, and shockingly it doesn't melt away when he opens the door. Empty-handed, she shrugs, and slips inside the apartment quickly, empty hands ready to pet both dogs.]
No shoes for rude princesses. Hi, sweetheart. [That one's to Nike, promise, complete with petting her soft fur.]
[ closing the door behind her, he finds nike's no longer interested in running out the door to greet their guest but to raven herself. he lets her go, foot firmly on the ground as he lets the door click in place. zelo remains in the bathroom, sniffing the tiles before he even think stop casually venture out to welcome raven with a sniff of her shoes. ]
[ bellamy rolls his eyes, watching the dogs for a moment before he remembers he doesn't need to worry about raven being unbalanced at all. though he knows the two of them are bigger than they've been before, they can still knock him over and he thinks himself to be the most balanced of them all — too stubborn to let the wind knock him down even when it'd be the best thing for him. ]
[ it's good to see her smile. while it's on the tip of his tongue to ask her what's on her face, he chooses not to, letting her be for now. moving around her to walk into the kitchen, he glances over his shoulder with an arch to his brow, ] You know Cinderbell isn't really a princess, right?
Don't give up hope, Cinderbell. [She laughs at her own clever jokes, because she's so funny. Meanwhile, she'll give all her affection to the dogs, as she keeps marveling how different they are between one visit and the next.]
They're bigger. [To think that she once held Nike on her chest like a tiny baby. Right now, she imagines the effect would be her own suffocation, so maybe not.
It's easy now to side step the dogs, let them follow her if they want to, and follow him into the kitchen instead. She was promised cake, so she came ready.]
[ moving toward his kitchen counter where he has everything he used before in place — bowls, a whisk, the cake mix tucked inside of its box he hasn't opened yet — all bellamy needs to worry about now is making sure the dogs stay out of the kitchen. it's a little difficult to ensure, given the layout of his apartment, but zelo seems to grow disinterested and curls up at the end of his bed. it's nike who lingers, sitting down the moment she sees him lingering by the counter, expecting a treat or seven to be supplied to her. ]
Too big.
[ he leans up to open a cupboard, fishing around for a decent dog treat. all he has is biscuits in the shape of dog bones, so he throws one in zelo's direction and drops one in front of nike. ]
Think I'm going to need to get them their own apartment next to mine.
[ or a bigger place, but bellamy's always lived in compacted places. having space is an odd concept for him. he's so used to living on top of another being. ]
[ leaning against the counter, he crosses his arms against his chest. nodding toward the cake mix of chocolate cake, he looks to her and tries to hide any amusement he feels. it fails, though; his lips quirk upward at the thought of raven reyes attempting to master a simple cake. ] Have at it.
[She went from small living quarters, to tents, to a warehouse all to herself; this moment when it hits you that your life is so different now from what it was, she knows what it's like. She does.
She goes to wash her hands in the kitchen sink, to be on the safe side, and then inspects the cake mix box.] That's it? You're just gonna point me to the thing and let me go? I'm hoping I was a better teacher to you.
[ he looks at her with an amused smile, staying put with his back against the counter and his armed crossed against his chest. purposefully wanting her to believe he'd simply throw her to the dogs, he eventually pushes himself off and unwraps his arms with a shake of his head. ]
Didn't know the great Raven Reyes was incapable of opening a cardboard box.
[ he reaches for the cake mix to slip his fingers underneath its two pieces on the top of it to peel it open. ]
[Banter only works well between them because every now and then, one caves and gets flustered, right? She'll use that as an excuse later, for the way she bristles just a bite.]
Oh, shut up. [She nudges his side with her elbow, and holds the box out of his grip with a smug smile.] I was going to read the instructions, I know better than to mess with chemistry. You don't just toss everything into a bowl and mix it up and hope it'll work. What do I look like, an engineer?
[ bellamy laughs, settling back against the counter with his arms crossed against his chest. it's easier to teach her by behaving like this. making a cake had come about on a night when he couldn't sleep and didn't want to, and by following the instructions and planning to toss the end product in the garbage, bellamy found himself able to actually make a cake and eat it, too. ]
[ watching her in amusement, he finds that goading her gets the job done. things don't feel awkward when he's pushing her to brag, and even though it's not really like him to throw a smile her way very much, he kind of likes that this is where their relationship has come to settle. inviting her over to bake a cake on a whim doesn't seem so bad. ]
You kind of look like you're procrastinating on making a cake, Raven. [ he doesn't know what an engineer looks like, and he doesn't care to, either. whenever he has a problem, he always thinks to ask raven to fix or build a way to fix it. no one else really exists in the tech. department but her. but he leans forward and smiles, ] And there's no fun in reading the instructions. I like to live on the wild side.
You lying liar, [she whispers, accusing tone and squinted eyes looking right at him. She remembers him waiting for instructions when it came to building a table and a playing pen, he can't pretend to be a rebel with her anymore. She knows better.
She knows best.] Just pre-heat the oven or something. Don't just stand there looking pretty. [She waves him off to his oven and fishes the bag of cake mix out of the box, cutting it open with a pair of kitchen scissors. Has she googled stuff about baking while on her way here?
Maybe. Yes. Most definitely, she has.] These are just the dry ingredients, you need the wet ones. Milk and stuff.
[ arching his brow, he doesn't move when she orders him to. looking amused, he thinks to ask her if she's googled this. it doesn't take a zero-g genius to know she's looked it up since the night she found out he made a cake to this very moment. ]
[ pushing himself off the counter, he grabs the carton of milk and two eggs, kicking the fridge door closed behind him. delicately he places those eggs on the counter, the milk carton receiving less kind treatment. curling his palms around the skirt of it, he pushes himself up, as if stretching, but it's his way of avoiding helping her. his idea of teaching is to throw raven to the wolves for the fun of it. ]
[ looking at her with a smile, he pushes his shoulders up as he keeps his arms straight. ]
Maybe I'm just a master baker. [Ha! She cracks up, laughing to herself as gets a bowl from the cupboard, laughing as she cracks the eggs into to bowl with the cake mix. Raven Reyes, amazing with words, great with jokes.
She rounds up on him, eyes glinting with amusement; he can be such a child sometimes, and it's good - she likes seeing that.] The milk?
[ he flicks the carton in front of her with his fingers, then moves to grab a measuring cup from his cupboard after realising he's forgotten that. despite his attempts to be the perfect teacher when it comes to making a cake by having all their tools already out and ready for her, he's missed a few things. he doubts raven's going to hold it against him if he forgets a cup or two. ]
If you pour too much in you're going to ruin it.
[ so, he decides to help by pouring the right amount of milk into the measuring cup, holding it by the handle out to her to take to either pour into the bowl or place somewhere in front of her for when she needs it. ]
So you do know some stuff about baking. [She remembers the cake, alright, it's just that it's easier to pull his leg and keep him on his toes constantly than to compliment him. Then she'd have to be nice, and he's clearly not interested in how nice she can be for...whatever reasons he has.
Cake is the important thing here, though. Cake. She adds the milk too, and then looks inside the bowl.] So now what? What do we mix'em with?
[ stepping away for a moment, he opens a drawer and digs around for a whisk. there's not much in his cupboards other than the cutlery he absolutely needs, but once he finds it, he closes the drawer with a nudge of his hip and holds it out for her to take. ]
You need to mix it real well. [ he looks to the batter in the bowl, and knows he could easily give her the electronic whisk to make her experience a little easier. but bellamy's never been particularly kind when he wants to be a pain in the ass. he shrugs and teases, ] That's all I know.
[If only she knew. She takes him at face value this time, and takes the whisk and gets to work. It's not that hard, she's made bombs happen, come on. This is a piece of cake.
[ he shrugs his shoulders, leaning against the counter again. he doesn't reply immediately, opting to watch her as she whisks away. crossing his arms against his chest loosely, he wonders if this is what she looks like when she's making her bombs, or if her expression is pinched more in concentration given how explosive the ingredients she uses tend to be. he's always tried to stay far away from all the powders and containers she uses, giving her space while he remains outside in his area of expertise. ]
Whatever you want. [ he glances toward her whisking movements before he looks up at her again. ] You can make icing, or eat it plain. It's your cake.
[There's always a lot less fast, emphatic hand movements happening when she makes bombs, which she hasn't made in a long time since here. Or more like, never since she got here. It's good; she was never one for making bombs, even if she knows how to make all the things go boom.
Can doesn't always mean I want to.
She looks up at him to find him focused on her whisking, and decides to test the cake mix for taste, at least.] Oh, it's my cake now? I thought the invitation had been 'come let's bake a cake' not 'let me loom while you bake yourself a cake'.
[She dips her pinkie finger inside the batter, scoops some up and licks it clean. It's good.] Local bakeries have all kinds of froofy-looking icing on cake.
[ with the corners of his lips quirked upward, he looks at her with amusement. easily, he says, ] I'm not a local bakery.
[ there's nothing fancy to be found in his kitchen. if he was asked about what he was best at, he's not so sure he'd be able to give anyone an answer — he doesn't have the best view of himself, and he thinks shooting people may not be the best response. but making a cake, no matter how much he wanted to laugh when he'd originally bought the first cake mix, had kept his mind busier than playing a game on his xbox or watching netflix. keeping his hands busy and his mind at work hadn't quite lulled him back to sleep, but it'd pulled him from the mountain. ]
[ he looks back down at the bowl and smiles. ]
And I invited you over to make a cake for yourself. You never asked me who it was for.
[It certainly keeps the hands busy, she knows a lot about that part. She thinks of icing in terms of 'that sweet creamy stuff that goes on top of cake and looks artsy', so of course:] It can't be that hard to make.
[If she ends up eating her own words, well, then so be it! But for now, she lifts the whisk, and while he's busy being a smartass and looking into the bowl like he's grading her performance, she bops him with the whisk on the nose.]
[ he laughs and scrunches up his nose before lifting his hand to wipe at it. he licks away whatever batter's on his fingers before he looks to nike, who's lying on the kitchen floor. when she sees him looking at her, she lifts her head, ears pricking up as though she's about to be given a treat herself. he makes a face at her as she begins to wag her tail, but she rests her head back down onto her paws and the cold floor, resigning herself to not being given another treat. ]
[ looking at her profile, it's then he moves, turning on his foot to reach up to open the cupboard in front of him. standing on the tips of his toes, he pulls out a cake tray, rectangular in shape and medium-sized, and places it down with a clang on the bench. ]
[ then he moves to bend down and turn on his oven, throwing over his shoulder, ] You have to pour it in the tray when it's all smooth. Better be doing a good job at whisking, Raven.
Everything I touch is smooth. [It doesn't happen often, but there are things Raven isn't good at, all the times, and casually attempting to sound flirty seems to be one Achilles heel. Even she flinches at it, and pulls a face.]
[ he looks at the batter and shakes his head, easily seeing there's some clumps in it. for her first try, raven's done pretty well — and he's not surprised by it at all. taking a step closer, he keeps his eyes down when he says, ] You did better than me when I first did this.
[ he doesn't think much of his actions when he reaches out to move the whisk again, tipping the bowl on an angle. if his hand catches hers under it, he only focuses on stirring it round and round in the hopes of the small clumps becoming much smaller. ]
[The joke freezes on the tip of her tongue for a moment, and how sad is she that this little bit of contact is enough to make up for weeks of having not been hugged or cuddled by anyone? It's instructional, she should know better than to focus on it, or get even a hint flustered; Raven Reyes does not.
But she can sort of feel his breath on the side of her neck and it makes her debate between shoving him away and pulling him closer. In the end she chooses neither, just a dry,] I'm good at stuff, so...
[And she takes control of the bowl and whisk again, gaze focused on it, lips in a tight smile for a second.] I've got it.
[ he doesn't think too much of it, letting her hand go. preoccupying himself with sliding the tray closer and straightening it on the counter, he turns himself around again so he can lean the back of his hips against the edge and curl his fingers around it. something's a little off, but then again, raven could be intent to concentrate, determined to show him she's better at making a cake than him on her first go. still, he's an urge away from nudging her arm with his elbow, but forgoes it when he opts to try and see her brighten a little with words. ]
[ looking at her, he smiles and leans forward, ] I thought you were the best at stuff, Raven.
You're not wrong. [She's the best, and that's why she keeps winning at everything. Why her life isn't messy, she's not messy, and everything is splendid.
She pours the mixture into the tray carefully, slowly, and lifts her gaze to meet his,] But you've got no idea how much I can be the best at things.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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So he catches her with this fond little grin, and shockingly it doesn't melt away when he opens the door. Empty-handed, she shrugs, and slips inside the apartment quickly, empty hands ready to pet both dogs.]
No shoes for rude princesses. Hi, sweetheart. [That one's to Nike, promise, complete with petting her soft fur.]
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[ bellamy rolls his eyes, watching the dogs for a moment before he remembers he doesn't need to worry about raven being unbalanced at all. though he knows the two of them are bigger than they've been before, they can still knock him over and he thinks himself to be the most balanced of them all — too stubborn to let the wind knock him down even when it'd be the best thing for him. ]
[ it's good to see her smile. while it's on the tip of his tongue to ask her what's on her face, he chooses not to, letting her be for now. moving around her to walk into the kitchen, he glances over his shoulder with an arch to his brow, ] You know Cinderbell isn't really a princess, right?
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They're bigger. [To think that she once held Nike on her chest like a tiny baby. Right now, she imagines the effect would be her own suffocation, so maybe not.
It's easy now to side step the dogs, let them follow her if they want to, and follow him into the kitchen instead. She was promised cake, so she came ready.]
Hi.
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Too big.
[ he leans up to open a cupboard, fishing around for a decent dog treat. all he has is biscuits in the shape of dog bones, so he throws one in zelo's direction and drops one in front of nike. ]
Think I'm going to need to get them their own apartment next to mine.
[ or a bigger place, but bellamy's always lived in compacted places. having space is an odd concept for him. he's so used to living on top of another being. ]
[ leaning against the counter, he crosses his arms against his chest. nodding toward the cake mix of chocolate cake, he looks to her and tries to hide any amusement he feels. it fails, though; his lips quirk upward at the thought of raven reyes attempting to master a simple cake. ] Have at it.
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She goes to wash her hands in the kitchen sink, to be on the safe side, and then inspects the cake mix box.] That's it? You're just gonna point me to the thing and let me go? I'm hoping I was a better teacher to you.
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Didn't know the great Raven Reyes was incapable of opening a cardboard box.
[ he reaches for the cake mix to slip his fingers underneath its two pieces on the top of it to peel it open. ]
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Oh, shut up. [She nudges his side with her elbow, and holds the box out of his grip with a smug smile.] I was going to read the instructions, I know better than to mess with chemistry. You don't just toss everything into a bowl and mix it up and hope it'll work. What do I look like, an engineer?
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[ watching her in amusement, he finds that goading her gets the job done. things don't feel awkward when he's pushing her to brag, and even though it's not really like him to throw a smile her way very much, he kind of likes that this is where their relationship has come to settle. inviting her over to bake a cake on a whim doesn't seem so bad. ]
You kind of look like you're procrastinating on making a cake, Raven. [ he doesn't know what an engineer looks like, and he doesn't care to, either. whenever he has a problem, he always thinks to ask raven to fix or build a way to fix it. no one else really exists in the tech. department but her. but he leans forward and smiles, ] And there's no fun in reading the instructions. I like to live on the wild side.
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She knows best.] Just pre-heat the oven or something. Don't just stand there looking pretty. [She waves him off to his oven and fishes the bag of cake mix out of the box, cutting it open with a pair of kitchen scissors. Has she googled stuff about baking while on her way here?
Maybe. Yes. Most definitely, she has.] These are just the dry ingredients, you need the wet ones. Milk and stuff.
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[ pushing himself off the counter, he grabs the carton of milk and two eggs, kicking the fridge door closed behind him. delicately he places those eggs on the counter, the milk carton receiving less kind treatment. curling his palms around the skirt of it, he pushes himself up, as if stretching, but it's his way of avoiding helping her. his idea of teaching is to throw raven to the wolves for the fun of it. ]
[ looking at her with a smile, he pushes his shoulders up as he keeps his arms straight. ]
You've looked this up, haven't you?
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She rounds up on him, eyes glinting with amusement; he can be such a child sometimes, and it's good - she likes seeing that.] The milk?
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If you pour too much in you're going to ruin it.
[ so, he decides to help by pouring the right amount of milk into the measuring cup, holding it by the handle out to her to take to either pour into the bowl or place somewhere in front of her for when she needs it. ]
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Cake is the important thing here, though. Cake. She adds the milk too, and then looks inside the bowl.] So now what? What do we mix'em with?
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You need to mix it real well. [ he looks to the batter in the bowl, and knows he could easily give her the electronic whisk to make her experience a little easier. but bellamy's never been particularly kind when he wants to be a pain in the ass. he shrugs and teases, ] That's all I know.
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Or it will be.] So what are we putting on top?
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Whatever you want. [ he glances toward her whisking movements before he looks up at her again. ] You can make icing, or eat it plain. It's your cake.
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Can doesn't always mean I want to.
She looks up at him to find him focused on her whisking, and decides to test the cake mix for taste, at least.] Oh, it's my cake now? I thought the invitation had been 'come let's bake a cake' not 'let me loom while you bake yourself a cake'.
[She dips her pinkie finger inside the batter, scoops some up and licks it clean. It's good.] Local bakeries have all kinds of froofy-looking icing on cake.
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[ there's nothing fancy to be found in his kitchen. if he was asked about what he was best at, he's not so sure he'd be able to give anyone an answer — he doesn't have the best view of himself, and he thinks shooting people may not be the best response. but making a cake, no matter how much he wanted to laugh when he'd originally bought the first cake mix, had kept his mind busier than playing a game on his xbox or watching netflix. keeping his hands busy and his mind at work hadn't quite lulled him back to sleep, but it'd pulled him from the mountain. ]
[ he looks back down at the bowl and smiles. ]
And I invited you over to make a cake for yourself. You never asked me who it was for.
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[If she ends up eating her own words, well, then so be it! But for now, she lifts the whisk, and while he's busy being a smartass and looking into the bowl like he's grading her performance, she bops him with the whisk on the nose.]
Don't come at me with semantics.
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[ looking at her profile, it's then he moves, turning on his foot to reach up to open the cupboard in front of him. standing on the tips of his toes, he pulls out a cake tray, rectangular in shape and medium-sized, and places it down with a clang on the bench. ]
[ then he moves to bend down and turn on his oven, throwing over his shoulder, ] You have to pour it in the tray when it's all smooth. Better be doing a good job at whisking, Raven.
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It's done, look. [It's like 90% smooth.]
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[ he doesn't think much of his actions when he reaches out to move the whisk again, tipping the bowl on an angle. if his hand catches hers under it, he only focuses on stirring it round and round in the hopes of the small clumps becoming much smaller. ]
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But she can sort of feel his breath on the side of her neck and it makes her debate between shoving him away and pulling him closer. In the end she chooses neither, just a dry,] I'm good at stuff, so...
[And she takes control of the bowl and whisk again, gaze focused on it, lips in a tight smile for a second.] I've got it.
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[ looking at her, he smiles and leans forward, ] I thought you were the best at stuff, Raven.
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She pours the mixture into the tray carefully, slowly, and lifts her gaze to meet his,] But you've got no idea how much I can be the best at things.
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