Nathaniel accepted Zedd's hand without much thought and happily followed him into the kitchen, humming softly to himself in content. "Are your friends coming by to buy potions from you again, dad?" He asked curiously, cocking his head to the side a bit as he did so. "They seem very nice."
Depression and Choccy Milk (OXO with Caustic)
group
“Nathaniel, not everyone that comes into the shop is my friend,” Zedd replied, already letting go of Nathaniel’s hand a moment to find what he needed to cook. “But no. Not until I’m sure you’ll be okay on your own. That and I’m normally closed today anyways,” he added, hoping the last part made the angel feel a bit better.
After getting the cinnamon, eggs, bread, and syrup out, he looked back down at Nathaniel.
“Do you… wanna help me cook…?” he offered, raising a brow and letting a small smile on his face. It would be good to let Nathaniel feel useful.
"Oh… I could always run the shop with you, couldn't I?" Nathaniel asked, humming softly to himself. "Or at least stand with you while you do it…" He looked up at Zedd's offer and brightened, grinning and nodding eagerly as he came up to his side. "Yeah! What can I do to help?" Grew asked.
group
(Your reply in the oneshot btw)
“Wouldn’t you get bored with just watching?” Zedd asked, already moving to pull up a stool for Nathaniel. The man easily lifted the boy up onto the seat so he could see what to do. Zedd took about four eggs and cracked one of them himself. He tapped it on the side of the bowl he had before breaking it apart. “You can crack the rest of these if you want. Just be careful hitting it and that you try not to get any shell in the bowl,” the man instructed. Somehow he felt this was a bit of a bad idea to let Nathaniel try breaking the eggs due to how he had to be very precise. He was worried about the angel stressing over it more than anything.
(Ee)
"Well, your job seems pretty exciting! I'd get to meet so many new people!" Nathaniel grinned and carefully accepted an egg from Zedd. After a minute or two of clearly being too nervous to break it on the edge of the bowl, he ended up just pulling out his dagger and tentatively cracking the egg with it. Then, he ever so gently pulled apart the egg shell to pour the egg in the bowl.
group
Zedd watched, nearly moving to take the blade away from Nathaniel. He noted how careful the boy was though. “Nathaniel… I also think… we should put a hold on the forge for a bit. I don’t want you harming yourself again. Specifically with your knives,” he said, staring at the dagger in the angel’s hand. “And for the eggs, I can do those so you can do the fun part if you want.”
"R-Right… we just got it, though. How am I supposed to make money if I can't make the knives?" He asked, putting his knife away once he was done with the one egg. He toddled over to the sink to try and wash the egg off of his hands, but he was too short to reach the faucets. He could touch them if he jumped, but he couldn't get far enough to pull on them.
group
“It’s not forever. I’m concerned you’ll harm yourself on purpose again is what I’m saying,” he replied, already raising Nathaniel up to the sink and turning it on. Seeing as he held the boy so close, he saw the outline of the knife. Carefully, he moved his hand to take it from the pocket it was inside of. “Which is why I want to hold onto this until you can think positively about yourself,” he hummed, blade now in hand.
"W-Wait! Dad, b-but I… I need that! What if we get attacked and I have no way to defend myself?" Nathaniel asked nervously, fidgeting a bit with his now-clean hands. "How am I supposed to start thinking positive about myself when I can't control my thoughts? I think my brain is just an asshole or something… whatever word that was…"
group
“If anyone dares to try and hurt you, they’ll have to go through me first,” Zedd said, sounding very protective. “You’ve not seen what I can do yet. I’m not about to sit there and let you fight on your own,” he continued. “Also, where in the hell did you hear that word? I never taught you that one?”
Nathaniel shrugged a bit. "I dunno. People are mean on the streets. They didn't like me in the market. You're not the only one I've heard bad words from down here, you know. B-But that's besides the point… I can't just let you fight by yourself, dad, I… I can help! I was trained to fight, but I can't really fight without a weapon… I get really scared when I'm unarmed."
group
Zedd smiled sadly. “I know you can, Nathaniel. And yeah, a lot of people on the streets are disrespectful as hell. Doesn’t mean everyone wants to attack you though. Let’s focus on breakfast for now, okay? I’ll let you put in the cinnamon and stuff before getting to dip the bread?” He offered, setting the knife down nearby but still out of reach. Zedd cracked the last two eggs quickly before measuring out the cinnamon, milk, and vanilla.
"Okay… how do I do that?" Nathaniel asked, eyeing his dagger longingly. He shook his head a bit and looked away when he noticed what he was doing, wrapping his wings around himself. "I'm not very good at cooking and I don't wanna mess it up, dad…"
group
“Neither am I. This is one of the few things I can do without burning it,” Zedd admitted, helping Nathaniel on the stool by the bowl again. “I have the right amounts here already, all you have to do is add them in and mix for me,” he said, trying to sound positive. There was a large spoon sitting by the bowl for him to use. “You’re not going to mess it up. I have the hard part of using the stove, so you’ll be fine.”
"Okay…" Nathaniel did as he was told, gingerly adding in the ingredients before carefully stirring them. He seemed to start having trouble stirring after a while due to his arms growing tired. "How long am I supposed to stir it, dad?" He asked, still continuing to stir despite his achy arms.
group
Zedd looked over Nathaniel’s shoulder, all of the ingredients having been mixed well. “Not very long. That’s good. Now we just have to dip pieces of bread in the bowl and cook it,” he stated, moving to turn on the stove. He pulled out a pan to put the french toast in, putting in a small square of butter to grease the bottom. After doing so, he took a single piece of white bread and handed it to Nathaniel.
Nathaniel accepted the bread from Zedd and stuck it into the bowl. He then proceeded to watch it as though he expected it to do something. "Dad? How long am I supposed to leave it in here?" He asked, clearly pretty confused.
group
Zedd turned from the stove a moment to see a very confused Nathaniel. He gave a small chuckle. “It doesn’t have to be a precise amount. Just get the mixture on both sides and you’re good,” he replied. It was precious that Nathaniel was so worried about doing it right.
"Oh, okay…" Nathaniel carefully flipped the bread and watched it for a few seconds before fetching it out and returning it to Zedd. "Is this good enough? Or should I try to make it better?" He asked as he folded his wings tightly against his back. "Is there a certain technique to it?"
group
Zedd couldn’t help but laugh a bit again. “Nathaniel, it’s fine. There’s nothing fancy to do with it. Don’t stress over it,” he said, setting the bread piece in the pan. A satisfying sizzle came from the pan as it cooked the bread to a golden brown color. As soon as one side was cooked well, the man flipped it over with a spatula before giving Nathaniel another piece of bread.
"I gotta make sure it's perfect though…" Nathaniel accepted the second piece of bread and carefully dipped it into the mixture, making sure every inch of it was covered evenly before he returned it to Zedd. "We don't wanna make food that's just 'okay', do we?"
group
“You really don’t,” Zedd assured, taking the next piece after the first one was finished. “This really isn’t something that turns out bad unless it’s undercooked,” he added. There were ways to make french toast quite fancy if you wanted to, but that was quite the extra amount of work. Maybe when Nathaniel was older, he could help him experiment with cooking more.
"Well, I still wanna make it as good as possible, dad! Is there anything else I can help you do?" Nathaniel asked, looking into the bowl full of the mixture. "Can I have choccy milk, please? With breakfast, anyway, not necessarily right now…"
group
“Just to dip the bread two more times,” Zedd replied, already flipping the new piece. The man felt quite proud that he had 2 pieces that weren’t burnt. “Uh, yeah. I was wondering if you’d want to try juice with this, but I can get you a cup when we’re done?”
"Ooh! Can I do both? I haven't had juice before!" Nathaniel smiled brightly as he watched Zedd making the toast. "What kind of juice? Is it good? Do you think I'll like it? Am I asking too many questions?" He asked.
group
Zedd immediately felt bad for Nathaniel again. Of course he’d never had juice before. “You can. It’s orange juice, it is good, probably, and… uh it’s fine to ask since you don’t know,” Zedd replied in rapid fire. He had to turn around quickly again to be sure the food didn’t get overdone. Luckily it wasn’t. The man took a third piece of bread and gave it to Nathaniel again.
Nathaniel accepted the bread and dipped it in the bowl, purring softly to himself. "Do you like orange juice, dad?" He asked, passing the bread back to Zedd after he was done fixing it up. "Or do you like choccy milk better?"
group
Zedd hummed a moment. Really, he always had coffee more than anything. “I do. I like both, really, but I’ll probably have juice with breakfast. That or coffee,” he replied, a small smirk playing on his lips at the final comment, knowing how much Nathaniel hated the bitter taste.
Nathaniel stuck his tongue out a bit when Zedd mentioned coffee. "I dunno how you can drink that stuff, dad… it's really gross. And it makes me all shaky." He held his tiny hand out for another piece of bread to dip into the mixture. "Why don't you drink something nice tasting instead?"
group
Zedd couldn’t help but laugh. “It is nice tasting. It makes you all shakey because it has caffeine in it,” he argued, setting the bread in the pan. “Uh, caffeine makes you more awake. It’s in other things too, but coffee has a lot in it,” Zedd remembered to explain, having a feeling Nathaniel wouldn’t know what caffeine was.