Bryn smiled weakly, wandering over slowly until he was only a few inches away. He peeked out from Behind Zacks back, watching the chicken sizzle eagerly. It already smelled amazing, he had no clue how Zack did it. They both used the exact same stuff but Bryn's was only ever passable while Zack's was always top of the line. "It smells amazing, Zack. Thank you."
Zack started when Bryn’s voice came closer than what he was expecting it to, swallowing heavily and collecting himself mentally. Bryn wasn’t some enemy, but it was hard to get over the fact with him. He’d spent almost a year with him yet he still jumped at stupid times.
“You-you’re welcome, Bryn.”
Bryn bit his lip as Zack startled, resolving to do a better job alerting him to where he was moving next time. He'd basically snuck up on the poor guy while he was already kind of worried, that really wasn't cool. "Sorry about the scare, babe! I'm gonna go set the table for us. Um… can I kiss you before I go?"
Zack shook his head to tell him not to worry about it and shakily exhaled, his hands still shaking a little from the scare as he flipped his chicken over and poked at Bryn’s with a different fork. He tilted his head back a little so Bryn could steal a kiss.
“There’s clean stuff in the dishwasher.”
Bryn practically beamed, pushing himself up onto his tiptoes to peck Zack on the lips before he scurried over to the dishwasher. "Thanks babe." He made sure to keep up a low level of noise, just enough to let Zack figure out where he was at any given time, as he set down plates and silverware. "Honey, what kind of drink do you want?"
Zack listened to his surroundings as he poked and flipped the chicken, chopping some mellower jalapeño for the Human to at least give him some sort of veggie. He waited, tapping his forks on the oven handle.
“Oh, I don’t care. Whatever you can find.”
Bryn wandered over, setting their plates down beside the stove so Zack could serve up the chicken when it was ready. They didn't have much, he'd probably have to go grocery shopping later, but there were still a couple sparkling waters and a bottle of pinot something or other Bryn bought because it looked fancy. "Wanna crack open that new bottle of wine?"
Zack shook his head. He didn’t want to get drunk again and relive the nightmare of a hangover and scarring his mate. He forked the chicken that was for him onto a plate, pouring out the jalapeños and the extra sauce that was created onto the other plate. He stood over Bryn’s, doing the same once it was finished and giving it up to the second plate.
Bryn nodded and set the bottle down, heading over to the fridge to get them both glasses of water. He grabbed the plates too, setting everything down at the table and taking his seat. The chicken looked delicious, but he waited to eat until Zack was sitting down too. "C'mon, Zack. Let's eat!"
Zack eased himself over with some silverware and settled himself down in his seat, sighing as he relaxed back into it. He watched Bryn hurry over and sit, grinning faintly despite himself.
“I’m already here.”
Bryn smiled back at him easily, as bright and cheerful as a Christmas tree. It was the smiled he always used when he managed to get Zack to crack a grin or laugh, proud and almost impish. "Sorry, I didn't see you there! Um… here's your water! D'you wanna stay downstairs to watch that new horror movie after dinner?"
Unlike what he usually did, he didn’t fall to the cute, big smile of his lover as he started to cut into his kitchen, his nose pointed down as he ate.
“Thanks. I guess if you want to.” He shrugged a little and popped a jalapeño with a piece of chicken attached into his mouth, chewing slowly.
Bryn was happily munching on his chicken, pushing all the jalapeños over to one side of his plate. His smile got much less bright when he noticed Zack's lack of enthusiasm but it was still there, soft and resolute. He wasn't gonna guilt Zack into doing something with him. "Oh… um… we don't have to if you'd rather do something else. I think that show you like got picked up for a new season, we could watch that instead."
It was hard for Zack to swallow the deliciously spicy food, but he managed to clean his plate and rub his hands off on some napkins. He was a quick eater by default for many reasons pertaining to his past. Working with Humans changed this Demon a lot.
“It’s whatever you’d like to do,” He mumbled dully as he poked at some leftover sauce, not even motivated enough to pick up the plate and lick it off.
Bryn had finished with hi chicken so he pushed his plate towards Zack to let him have the leftover jalapeños. He was a quick eater for reasons that had nothing to do with past experiences and everything to do with a longstanding hatred of sitting in awkward silence while chewing random things that occasionally tasted nice. "Yeah, but I'm not asking about what I want to do, am I?"
Zack swallowed the jalapeño, too, setting the forks together and standing with the help of the back of the chair before limping across the kitchen to start on dishes. He couldn’t stand dirty things. It made him feel like he’d get yelled at if he didn’t clean anything and it was quite the horrible feeling.
“I don’t really care what we do.”
"Hey, let me get those. You've got to be sore from earlier, why don't you relax on the couch?" Bryn carefully took the dishes from his hands, quickly walking them over to the sink. "I've got the cleanup, Zack. It's fine."
Zack shook his head and took the soapy dishes back and continued to scrub them with the sponge. He turned his head back down and sighed quietly.
“Just go find what you want to watch, Bryn, I’ll be fine doing this,” He mumbled down at the dishes as he scrubbed.
"Okay," Jude agreed, though his unease showed in his tone. He didn't make any move to leave despite the agreement, nervously watching Zack scrub for a few minutes. "Hey, can… um… can we talk?" It was a dangerous kind of question because Bryn chatted often about many things, but only asked to talk when it was serious.
He didn’t look up as he scrubbed, nor did he when Bryn asked to talk. He just sighed faintly and expected the worst as he washed the plates off and set them down in the drying rack.
“Sure, I’m listening.”
Bryn pursed his lips and settled against the counter. "You know I have a vauge idea about your past, and I'm not… I'm not going to press you about it. You can share that on your own schedule, or even never at all if you want, but… um… I know that there are things that make you…" What was a good word? "… upset, or… demotivated or sad or- fuck, I'm getting off-topic- There's stuff that makes you feel bad. And you don't like to talk or have opinions or do much when you feel bad, and I want to know how to act around you because I wanna make you happy or at least comfortable."
Zack scrubbed a cup slowly as he gave a small shrug. “I don’t think there’s much to share. You know I worked with Humans a lot. I’ve just been so sexually used I don’t think certain things like whore or slut make me laugh anymore. Because I technically am that. And I spent periods of my life where I haven’t showered in so long that I did smell like a whorehouse on nickel night.”
"Okay, I'll make sure to keep myself from bringing that up. And… I know it probably doesn't count for much, but I don't think you're a whore or a slut or anything like that. I shouldn't have brought it up, that was really shitty and insensitive of me." He sighed, pressing himself into the counter a little harder. "But, that's… um… that's not really what I was asking about. I put you in a bad mood, I want to know if there' anything I can do or avoid doing that'll make things better for you."
“Just… just don’t say stuff like that. To that extent of slut or whore or whatever, even if you’re using it as a simile or something… just like, say stink or something, you know? I wouldn’t have minded that because I know I get stinky often. But just don’t… you know…” He trailed off meekly, not sure how to describe it. “I don’t want you acting like you can’t say stuff like that, but just remind yourself that I have been in a sex-worker’s shoes. I’ve been a slave to people who didn’t care about anything but my waist down and my mouth.”
Bryn nodded, taking the conversation to heart. "I'll watch my mouth, I promise" He sounded painfully sincere, though he knew he wouldn't have to for him to be taken seriously. He very rarely made promises because he always, always kept them. "Is there anything I can do right now to help you feel better?"
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