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Taako knew that it was a bad idea to go out on a food run on his own, but this was important, monumentally important, Lup and Barry's anniversary important. Lup had already told him that they didn't expect anything from him, but they'd been letting him live with them for almost a year now since things had gone poorly with Sazed, and now, now he felt like he ought to get them a gift. So, he carefully unpacked and cleaned his cookware for the first time in a while, and set out to the kitchen to gather some ingredients while Lup and Berry were away visiting the spot in the garden where Lup had proposed. Taako just had to hope that the human that lived here actually had something decent in the kitchen today.
Kravitz knew he shouldn't be buying all of these fancy ingredients he barely understood how to use, but this was important, hugely important, maybe the most important day ever, his moms' fiftieth anniversary. They would be coming over tomorrow to celebrate and Kravitz wanted to at least test drive the dinner he'd be making once so that he didn't completely fuck it up. He just hoped once was actually enough to learn how to make homemade fettuccine alfredo and apple pie after nearly a lifetime of living off of eggs and instant noodles. This would be so much easier if he wasn't doing it alone, but Susan was out of town and the orchestra he was conducting for right now saw him as a total hard ass… Kravitz really needed more friends.
When Kravitz got home, there was a man in his kitchen. Well, to say he was a man might have been a but misleading, he was about three inches tall, wearing what appeared to be a wizard robe from an old doll Kravitz thought he'd probably put up in the attic a few years ago, and hanging by a fuzzy purple tail off of one of the shelves in his pantry. He was whispering something to himself too, something like "You'll be fine. It's safe this time. You know all of the food is safe now, and you'll all be fine." Which was concerning to say the least, but at least Kravitz knew this… creature spoke English.
Kravitz stood transfixed for a few moments, up until the creature swung himself up onto the shelf he'd been swinging from and pulled a package of oyster crackers out of their box. "Hey!" Kravitz called, mostly out of surprise. The man dropped the package immediately and spun to face him, clearly horrified. He leaped from the shelf to the doorknob and prepared to jump again before Kravitz stopped him.
"Wait, wait, I'm sorry. Please, I don't want you to get hurt."
The creature glared up at him but did not speak.
"I'm, I'm sorry. My name is Kravitz, what's yours?"
Again, the creature did not speak.
"I know you can talk, I heard you. Please, who are you, what are you doing here?"
"Dammit!" The creature hissed. "Dammit, shit, I fucked up!"
"I-it's not all that serious." Kravitz stuttered. "I'm not mad."
"Shut up, I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about me! I'm breaking the rules! Shit! S-stop talking to me, I'm not supposed to talk to you!"
Kravitz frowned at that. "If you're not supposed to be talking to me, why are you in my house?"
"Oh yeah, because this is your house and no one else's." The creature said sarcastically.
"Um, yeah actually it is, I live alone."
"Well I live here too and I don't have time to be captured and experimented on by humans because I'm already totally freaking out!"
"I'm not going to experiment on you!" Kravitz sighed. "OK. OK, you know what, let's start over. Hello, my name is Kravitz, what's your name?"
The creature regarded him for a long moment, and then, "Hi Kravitz, my name is Taako."
"Y-your name is Taco?"
"T-A-A-K-O, Taako, you got a problem with that?"
"No, no not at all. I'm sorry I just… you live here?"
"Yes… I, I'm a borrower. We live in secrecy in human homes; we carve out a life, a culture out of scraps and memories abandoned by humans and left for us to care for. I've lived here for a while, my family has been a part of this home even longer, and I- I might have just fucked everything up for us. You're really not supposed to know we're here, it's dangerous."
"Wow, that's, a lot to take in." Kravitz regarded the… the man, yes, that suited him after all. "Listen, I have a really busy night ahead of me, and it seems like you were already in the middle of something, so how about if I just forget I saw you and you forget you talked to me and we just go about our days?"
"Bullshit, what's in it for you?"
"A kitchen to myself is what's in it for me!" Kravitz yelled. Taako flinched. "I'm sorry, it's just, I'm really in a tough spot. I'm supposed to make my moms dinner for their wedding anniversary tomorrow but I don't know how to cook and I really need to practice and I just… I guess I’d be freaking out a lot more about a tiny man invading my kitchen if I wasn't already at maximum levels of freaking out already."
Taako stared at him. "You're making dinner? For a wedding anniversary?"
"In theory, yeah."
Taako laughed. He laughed and laughed, all of the stress and fear suddenly vanishing like a bubble popping and dissolving into the air. "My sister's wedding anniversary is today." He said finally. "I came here to try to get supplies to surprise her and her husband with dinner. But I- I haven't cooked since my ex boyfriend and I… since we broke up. I guess I've reached maximum freak out capacity too."
"Shit, that really sucks, Taako. I'm sorry."
"Eh, don't worry about it. Cha'boy bounces back."
Kravitz laughed. "Hey, maybe, maybe we could help each other?"
"How do you mean?"
"Well, you know how to cook, and I have ingredients you won't have to carry away all by yourself, maybe you could teach me to make something and then you can take as much of it as you need back home to your sister and brother-in-law."
"You really mean that?"
"Yeah! I mean, it'll be a lot easier than both of us trying to do it on our own."
"Yeah, ok, let's do it! Taako's amazing school of cooking lesson one! What did you have ingredients to make?"
"Uh, fettuccine alfredo and apple pie, is that ok?"
"Ah… is that non-dairy fettuccine alfredo?"
"Oh, yeah actually, my mom Istus can't have dairy."
"I knew I liked you, Kravitz. Alright, first things first, pie crust. A lot harder than it seems…"
Several hours later, laughter and mess and excitement filled hours later, Kravitz actually had a passable looking dinner. And it had actually been fun figuring out how to cook something more substantial for the first time since he was a little kid. Especially since he got to do it with Taako. Taako was confident, funny, and sweet. He knew so much and was able to explain himself so casually, it was really a sight to behold.
"You're a really great teacher, Taako."
"Yeah, natch', Taako's the best at everything." Taako smirked.
Kravitz giggled. "Of course, how could I forget? Do you want me to help you pack up this stuff to take home?"
"That- that'd be great. Thanks Krav." Taako blushed. "Um, do you have anything to put them in?"
"Yeah, I should." Kravitz reached up above the fridge and pulled down a doll sized tea set, a gag gift from Susan one Christmas, teasing him for how similarly the set looked to his own hand-me-down dishes. "Do you think these would work?"
"That's perfect! Thanks Krav."
"Yes, of course, thank you again for teaching me."
"Yeah, definitely. I'll be back tomorrow to help with your moms' stuff, but I expect you to do more of the work that time. I- if that's OK, of course. Me, me coming back, I mean."
"Yeah, of course! I'd love to see you again, Taako."
"I'd… love to see you again too, Kravitz.
"Maybe we should do this more often?"
"D-definitely. But, remember, you can't tell anybody about this."
"Don't worry, Taako. I know what it's like to have to hide, I swear I won't tell a soul."
"Thanks. Tell your folks happy anniversary from me?"
"Same here. Bye Taako."
"Bye Kravitz."