Submission (#6275) Approved

A warm breeze rustled through the pink leaves of the trees in Faerindell. Mary had chosen a place on a grassy hill under a big tree with lots of faerie shrouds hanging down from it - overlooking the farmlands, which were especially busy during this time of year. Elnins from all corners of the region came together to harvest crops and gather food, to get everything ready for miasma season. 

“This is beautiful.” Nico stepped closer to Mary and laughed softly, while he gently removed some of the pink petals that had landed on Marys hair. 
"You can see all the way from up here! And look, there is the Eldertree!"

“I know~....that’s why I picked it.” The smaller one nodded, while walking over to the blanket and the picnic basket they had brought up with them. The sun was slowly setting; it was the magical golden hour and everything was tinted in pink and orange and the colors around them almost exploded. The pink canopy of the tree looked like it was on fire; the golden sunlight mixed with the pink leaves and everything glowed red. 

Mary started to carefully unpack the basket and set things on the blanket, when Nico joined him and peaked into the basket. 

“Oh what’s all this?” The taller one cocked his head to the side as he didn’t recognize half of the containers that were packed in there. Nico raised his eyebrow and curiously examined them as he took them out of the basket. This was not the food he had prepared.
“Did you … bring back up food?”, he then asked a little bewildered and finally looked up to face Mary. 

The black and pink elnin looked away instantly and furrowed his eyebrows in frustration.
“Well, I -... Mhm…” 

Nico was surprised, Mary was usually not shy with words and spoke his mind. Something was clearly bothering the older one, a lot more than it should have.
“Cat got your tongue? What is it, darling?” His voice was soft and warm; Nico wasn’t angry, just curious as to why Mary packed extras.

“I wasn’t sure how the food would turn out, and I wanted to be on the safe side so I packed some simple dishes I prepared earlier. You didn’t allow me to be in the kitchen but then you accepted help from Talia and I just…You didn’t want me- ” Mary bit his lip; he could feel anger and jealousy bubble up again. This was supposed to be a joyful event, but Mary had already lost that joy earlier today when Nico said he wanted to cook alone; only to then ask another elnin for help - instead of Mary. It hurt more than Mary expected - being shut out… He didn’t expect that feeling to happen with Nico, and he was still trying to get over it. And now they would fight because he didn’t even trust Nico to cook something proper for the picnic.
He had ruined everything-
Why couldn’t he just trust others-? 

Nico on the other hand instantly realized his mistake while he listened to Mary.
He thought he was doing Mary a favor by not having to deal with Nicos chaotic energy during cooking and trying new recipes  - but in trying to protect his partner, he ended up hurting him instead. Just now he could see tears forming in Marys eyes and it broke his heart. 

“No, no, no… come here, angel- I never intended to leave you out- I didn’t want to annoy you! I only asked Talia for help because she knows a lot of local dishes, and I wanted to surprise you by using homegrown foods from Faerindell.. I never wanted to make you feel left out. I’m so sorry.” Nico carefully stepped closer to Mary, trying to read the other one. He felt awful when he realized Mary tensed up, like the other one was expecting a fight. 
“Hey… I’m sorry. I messed up and should’ve been more open about it.” Nico made a mental note that Mary didn’t like surprises or being left out. Clearly the other one had too many bad experiences in the past and the last thing Nico wanted was to pile onto them.
“I thought I was doing you a favor by not having to deal with my mess… but clearly I was wrong.” Nico gently placed his paw around Mary and pulled him in for a hug - carefully and gently. Mary gasped in surprise and looked up, confused and lost,and the tension slowly left his body.

“... - you’re not mad at me?” 

“For what, love?” 

“... making such a scene and going behind your back by prepping food on my own- not trusting you-...” 

Nico could feel his heart ache for his partner. Did Mary really expect to be scolded for this? He buried his face in Marys hair and placed gentle kisses all over him.
“No love, of course not. You just tried to make sure we have everything we need. I’m sorry I made you worry.” 

“... okay…” Marys voice was muffled and quiet; as he buried his face in Nicos chest and had his eyes shut, trying to hold back the tears. He felt so silly for feeling this way, and yet - he couldn’t help it. And he couldn’t understand how Nico was so nice to him. 

Nico, on the other hand, felt guilty; he had completely misjudged the situation and burdened Mary with it. That was, of course, not his intention at all. He couldn't undo it now, so he tried to make the best out of the situation. "Hey... how about we see what both of us made? And you tell me something about your dishes…and I’ll tell you about mine and everything I learned from Talia? And come next time, we'll cook together, I promise. I won't try to protect you from my shenanigans anymore."
Mary nodded slowly and looked up.

“...Okay. Thank you.” 

~~~

"Phew - And that's done!"

Nico looked around after he had finished cutting the last vegetables and fruits. Everything was neatly lined up on the kitchen counter and table, distributed in small bowls. Most of the vegetables were already roasting in the oven, and next to the window, there was a tray of pumpkin seeds cooling off. His Pomu was sorting chestnuts and looked up when Nico put down the kitchen knife. It chirped softly and lifted the bowl so Nico could take a look. "Looks good! Keep going," grinned the black Elnin and looked at Talia, who was busy wrapping ham around pieces of apricot.

"We're making good progress," said Nico and started spreading the chestnuts on a baking sheet. Talia nodded. "Indeed, I thought it would take us longer. Check the onions when you're done with the chestnuts. Maybe we can put them in the oven together with the apples."

"Do you think the onions are ready already?"
“Maybe. They do take quite a bit of time to fully caramelize. Maybe your Pomu can start to put the pumpkin seeds into little containers and season them. And then start the carrot-ginger dip for the sweet potato balls.”
“Sounds good to me. Come on, lil’ guy, you heard the lady.” Nico smiled at his Pomu before he grabbed the pumpkin seeds and put the tray next to his Pomu, who was done sorting the chestnuts. It got up and ran across the table to collect the different spices it needed to finish prepping the pumpkin seeds. Happy with its selection it went back and began to season the seeds, while tossing them around in the bowl.

[...]

“Ohhh, Talia, that smells amazing. What is that?”
“Spiced hot chocolate! I thought you two would enjoy that” The white and blue elnin winked knowingly to Nico, who started laughing. “Is that so? Well… you’re probably not wrong. Mary has a sweet tooth after all.”
Nico was in the middle of packing all the snacks they cooked during the afternoon. The kitchen was filled with all sorts of delicious scents, and Nico was really hungry. He had stolen little bits  here and there - after all; he had to make sure everything tasted good! And while everything passed his very serious quality test, his Pomu was stacking away the cleaned dishes.

“I think we got most of it?” Nico looked around in the kitchen - almost everything was packed. A few things needed to cool off before he could put them in the basket, especially the caramelized onion tarts with apple slices and the fried chestnuts.

He was excited. Talia had been so helpful, the older elnin knew a lot of hearty autumn recipes. They made her a little basket of her own to enjoy later.
“Mary is gonna love all of this, I’m sure”, she smiled and filled the hot chocolate in a container to keep it warm for later.
“I think so, too. He loves trying out new food and everything here is just so tasty.”
He wanted to say more but then his Pomu chirped and wanted his attention. “Hi there~”, Nico grinned and saw that the Pomu had plucked a few flowers from outside the windowsill. “Ohhh, are those for us as decoration? Thank you, they are perfect. The last touch we need for a romantic picnic.” He carefully took the flowers and attached them to the outside of the basket. His Pomu chirped in agreement and thrilled when Nico kept one flower for the little Pomu. “This one is yours, friend.”, he said softly and placed a little kiss on the forehead of the Pomu. “And I packed you a little container with food as well. You can eat with us~”

“Prrrrt~!”