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Following a sweet aroma in the air, Phainon arrives at the private kitchen normally reserved for Chrysos Heirs at the Marmoreal Palace. There, he finds his two outlander friends, with Caelus urging Dan Heng to open his mouth.
“Say aah,” the gray-haired man pleads with his reluctant companion while holding out a brown, spherical candy.
“Caelus, I can eat it fine on my own,” the more stoic one of the duo insists, although even from a distance, Phainon could see the pinkish hue on his cheeks.
“But I want to feed it to you!” Caelus whines.
While the gray-haired man tries to convince his stoic partner to eat the candy from his hand, Phainon's mind briefly drifts to the moment he first met the pair. He'd appeared right in front of Caelus to disarm him, and he definitely felt it when Dan Heng threw his spear at him—the unmistakable spark of jealousy that one feels when another person gets way too close to their lover.
Phainon is no stranger to that feeling—he would often feel that emotion radiating from Mydeimos whenever Anaxagoras would get too close to him—although he doesn't really think much of it. He believes that arguing is simply their unique way of getting along, the same way a good spar is his and Mydei's preferred bonding activity outside the bedroom. Since both Chrysos Heirs seem to have found something in common (their shared fondness for him) despite their stark differences, Phainon is more than happy to be the glue that holds his lover and friend together.
The hero can relate with the trouble his gray-haired friend is currently experiencing. He too, would often try to feed Mydei various specialties in an attempt to convey his affections. Unfortunately, he doesn't succeed that often.
Then, a brilliant idea occurs to him.
Just as when Caelus was about to succeed in persuading Dan Heng, Phainon gets in between them, devouring the candy in one bite.
“Mmm! That tastes nice! What's this thing called?” Phainon asks the gray-haired outlander, ignoring his more stoic companion who's currently glaring daggers at his back.
“Oh, hi Phainon. You've never had chocolates before?” Caelus asks with an innocent smile while offering the rest of the chocolates in a box. The jealous Dan Heng promptly grabs the chocolates one by one, stuffing his mouth full of them.
“Hey! What's gotten into you?” Caelus pulls back the box of chocolates away from the reach of his companion. Dan Heng sulks, but moves closer to the gray-haired man, discreetly putting an arm around his waist while glaring at their white-haired friend.
“I don't think we have any of these here in Amphoreus,” Phainon says as he grabs another ball of chocolate from the box. “Is this supposed to be sweet?” he asks just to be sure.
Phainon had once asked Anaxa why neither he nor Mydei would eat anything he makes in the kitchen. To this day, the scholar's blunt response still hurts him:
“Are you seriously asking me that, when even the average dromas possesses more functional taste buds than you?”
“Yeah. Do you like sweets too?” Caelus asks.
“Not that much really, but Mydei definitely does.”
“Aww, that's too bad. You just ate the last one of them,” the gray-haired man points out just to catch a brief glimpse of Phainon making that adorable, dejected-puppy face, before adding in, “You're in luck though. I happen to have some cocoa beans with me—although Aglaea said she has an errand for us, so you'll have to prepare it yourself.”
Caelus takes out a small pouch from his bag and places it on Phainon's hand. Dan Heng shoots his companion a questioning look.
“You were seriously carrying around cocoa beans with you this whole time?”
“Why shouldn't I? My inventory has infinite slots!” Caelus proudly proclaims. Phainon tilts his head in confusion, but does not inquire further on the matter. Instead, he raises a more pressing concern as he inspects the cocoa beans.
“But I don't know how to turn these into chocolates.”
“Oh, right. You don't have a recipe. Okay, let me write that down for you quickly,” Caelus jots down the most straightforward recipe he could think of for turning cocoa beans into chocolates.
“Hey, don't you think that's way too much sugar?” Dan Heng asks while peering into his companion's impromptu recipe. He’s quite amazed that Caelus actually got the process right.
“What do you mean, Dan Heng? Chocolates can never be too sweet. The more sugar, the better!”
Then, he hands the piece of paper to Phainon. For a moment, the white-haired warrior looks like he'd just received some sort of magical, world-changing wisdom from his outlander friends.
“Anyway, we'll get going now. Good luck with your chocolates, Snowy! Don't forget to tell me what your big lion thinks about it, okay?” Caelus waves off with a friendly smile as he exits the kitchen with Dan Heng.
And thus begins another episode in Phainon's arduous journey of ‘cooking something Mydei would actually eat’.
…
Sometimes, having an immortal body is a blessing, but more often than not, once he's already out of the battlefield and he's left to suffer the lingering aches from the fatal wounds he'd sustained, Mydei would dare say that it is truly a cruel and unforgiving curse.
Just a few days ago, he'd suffered a deep blunt blow to his stomach. Normally, the pain would go away in half a day, but that's not really the case when it comes to weapons tainted with the black tide.
So the mighty, undying prince of Kremnos suffers in silence, alone in the solitude of his room, curtains drawn close so that the irritating light from the Dawn Device won't get into his eyes and—
“Mydeimos! I made something for you! Can I come in?”
Oh, there it is. The ray of sunlight he won't mind getting into his eyes—no, Phainon is the glorious sun himself. Shining brighter than the light of the Dawn Device, brighter than Aquila's eyes that used to light up the skies of Amphoreus before he closed them, his presence alone is enough to ease any pain plaguing the undying prince—
“Mydei, I can't hear you, so I'm coming in!” Phainon says as he shoves the door open with ease, the unlocking mechanism having already been pre-set to automatically activate when he's standing in front of Mydei's door. The prince's attention is immediately drawn by the familiar smile on Phainon's lips—and oh no, that's the hopeful smile the Deliverer usually wears when he'd just come out from the kitchen.
—Phainon's presence alone is often enough to ease any pain plaguing Mydeimos—but sometimes, it’s also more than enough to inspire a unique kind of dread that the undying prince only ever feels when his 'culinary genius' of a lover just got out of the kitchen.
“What do you have there?” Mydei asks in a defeated tone. He knows he can't keep on coming up with excuses to avoid Phainon's cooking, and he heard that Anaxagoras is trying to come up with a potion that temporarily takes away one's sense of taste, should one find themselves in a situation where they are forced to eat something unsavory.
Competition is tough, and while Phainon constantly reassures him that he's the only in his heart, he absolutely cannot let himself be outdone by that smartass from the Grove of Epiphany.
Maybe if I die from food poisoning, the pain in my stomach will go away faster, Mydei finds the morbid thought strangely reassuring.
“Our friends from beyond the sky shared a recipe with me,” Phainon enthusiastically approaches his lover, then opens the box of chocolate. An overwhelmingly sweet aroma assaults Mydei's nostrils, with a subtle hint of bitter smokiness.
Yeah. There's definitely some burnt sugar in whatever my dear princess is trying to feed me this time.
“It tastes like candy, but better, because we've never had one of these in Amphoreus!” Phainon enthusiastically babbles on. A not-sick Mydei would probably argue with his reasoning (“How is anything somehow better just because we don't have it here in Amphoreus?”), but he simply cannot be bothered at the moment, not when he's also preoccupied with putting up a tough front so that Phainon wouldn't notice and worry about his aching stomach.
After going on and on at length about how he prepared this new delicacy called ‘chocolate’ to Mydei (in an effort to convince him that it's definitely safe to eat and that he would love its sweet flavor), Phainon finally applies what he'd learned from observing his gray-haired friend earlier.
“Mydeimos, say aaah,” he asks in a gentle tone while holding out a small ball of chocolate just a few centimeters away from his lover's lips. Mydei hesitates for a moment, but ultimately decides he won't run away from his fate anymore.
What was that bullshit Mnestia's disciples were prattling about again? ‘Die doing what you love,’ was it? Next time, I'll tell them to add ‘Die an honorable death eating what your love made,’ on their list of nonsensical teachings about love.
“So? How was it? How was it?” Phainon excitedly asks, his eyes practically glimmering in anticipation.
“Aaack!” Mydei holds down the urge to cough out the supposedly ‘sweet’ treat Phainon lovingly made for him—
Holy shit. This has to be the most bitter thing I've ever put in my mouth.
“What was that? I didn't quite catch what you were saying.”
“A-Amazing,” Mydei forces the word out of his lips while holding back tears after eating something so bitter. “Maybe the—keugh—flavor is just a bit too—”
Seeing how fast the radiant smile disappeared from Phainon's lips, he ultimately decides it would be better to just double down on his lie than suggest that the flavor was ‘too strong’ for his liking.
“—sweet. Yeah, too sweet, Deliverer. Haha. Just like you.” It's not like him to resort to such means of flattery, but between Anaxagoras, Phainon, and himself, Mydei wouldn't deny that he's the worst actor out of the bunch. The last thing he wants when he's already suffering from a horrible stomach ache is a dejected Phainon.
“Are you sure you're not just saying that so that I won't feel bad?”
“Have I ever lied before just to make you feel better?” Mydei boldly asks, despite knowing that he's definitely done it before.
“Then you can have all these,” Phainon places the box of chocolates on his lap. “But would you rather eat them by yourself or have me feed it to you?”
Mydei considers his options carefully. Even if he were to choose to eat it by himself, it's not like he could just kick the white-haired man out so that he could eat them all in one go. On the other hand, it's going to take much longer having Phainon feed them to him one by one, but it also comes with the benefit of seeing that radiant smile up close, getting to lick his hands… and a fair chance at seducing him.
Maybe at some point, he could arouse Phainon enough that he'll just forget about the chocolate and have his way with him instead.
“Feed it to me, princess,” Mydei makes his choice with a smile, having found a brand new reason to be grateful for his immortality.
Thanatos, please keep on rejecting me so that I may keep this man happy for the rest of my life.
…
Surprisingly, Mydeimos did not in fact die from food poisoning. He'd succeeded in his plot of seducing Phainon and making him forget what he came there for, and Mydei wakes up several hours later, the pain in his stomach completely gone.
Sensing his movement as he grabs the neglected box of chocolates in the nightstand, Phainon half-opens his eyes.
“Wow… so you weren't lying. You actually like it…” the white-haired man groggily remarks.
“Phainon, have you ever considered a side hustle as an apothecary?” Mydei asks before swallowing a small ball of chocolate. He does his best not to grimace over its awfully bitter taste.
“No, why?”
“I just think you'll be amazing at it,” he says, then plants a soft kiss on Phainon's forehead.
“Why do I get the strange feeling that I shouldn't take that as a compliment…?” Phainon asks, but he'd already drifted back to sleep before Mydei could defend himself.
You're always full of surprises, aren't you? Just like… wait, what was that again?