Johnny and Angel, Friday Afternoon

[x-dangersense.livejournal.com]

Johnny's head snapped around at the sound of footsteps in the door and he called 'Yo! Angel! I need a thing for hot things. A pot rest thing!" He was in the process of lifting an extraordinarily large saucepan off the stove and onto the counter in the middle of the kitchen and, yes, prior planning suggested that a pot rest could have been a useful addition to the equipment he had on hand but how did you anticipate that?

Needless to say, Angel was surprised when she walked into the kitchen and found Johnny juggling a huge pot. "What're you doing?" She asked in surprise as she looked around for a pot holder. "Um...oh, here." She finally found one big enough for the pot and put it on the bench for Johnny to set the pot down.

"Lasagna," Johnny said as he put the pot down and went back to the stove for the bechemal sauce. "But Lorna's recipe? Seems to be geared to feed like twenty people. Seriously. Look!"

Angel peeked over, eyes wide. "Well she does feed the entire mansion," she pointed out reasonably. "So it makes sense. But yum, lasagna. Bet you've got enough there to share."

"You know it's not finished yet," he said and flinched a moment before the buzzer on the oven went off. "Can you uhh..."

"Yeah but it'll be done eventually." As the buzzer went off, Angel reached over to flip it off and backed away to give Johnny a little space and looked around for a potholder. "Want me to grab it for you?"

"Yeah, could you? Those are the lemon bars..."

"Mmm, sure!" Angel looked around, but upon failing to locate another potholder she shrugged and stooped down, grabbing the cookie sheet quickly with her bare hand straightening back up, putting it on top of the stove.

"Showoff," Johnny muttered as he began layering lasgna sheets and sauce. "Do you like, have school this year or are you done now?" he asked.

Angel couldn't help but grin a bit as she wiggled her fingers at him. Yes, she was a show-off. She'd freely admit to it too. "Yeah, still in school. Last year though. Yay almost being an adult!" She did a little dance just to emphasize her words. "What about you? Any school?"

"Dude. Congratulations!Have celebration cookies!" He pushed the tray of lemon bars over to her. "I'm kinda not ... going to college. Like, it's not because of my powers or nothing this year, it's just..." 

"You need a break?" Angel guessed as she grabbed a lemon bar, munching happily. "Mmmm. Anyways I definitely don't blame you on that note, I mean...you're basically in school from the time you're five until you graduate high school. And then four years of college? It's nuts."

Johnny shrugged. "It's real expensive and I pulled a D average most of the time. Anyway, I like, you know. Stuff like this more than just sitting in classrooms." He pointed at the half made lasagna. Sure, he loved reading. It was just the classroom aspect that was challenging. Sit still, don't walk around. Don't talk. Don't fidget. Do it now, not later when he could maybe focus.

"Hands on, more fun," Angel agreed, munching on the lemon bar. "Especially when being hands on means you get to do stuff like this. It's accomplishing something, yeah?"

"Hands on is so much better, "  he said,  nodding in agreement. "Sure, it gets boring sometimes not doing anything much but..."

"Anything's better than sitting in a classroom day after day after day." She popped the rest of cookie into her mouth, grinning. "I'm not gonna miss school, not gonna lie. Time to get out and get moving, ya know?"

He'd been out and been moving, before everything fell apart on him last year. And now, he was back living at the mansion, no job, no college and no ... Johnny bit his lip and stared into the distance for a moment and then gave Angel a grin. "I know, right? Gotta keep moving." He grabbed the tin of lemon bars and jumped away from her. "You gotta keep moving if you want another one of these."

"Heeeeey!" She might have whined. It might have been warranted. "Meanie, that's not fair!" But she sprang after him anyways. She wanted her freaking cookie.

"I know but neener!" He skipped back further, holding the pan just out of reach for a moment longer before putting it back on the counter and sliding it back toward her. 

"You are rude," Angel huffed as she snatched up another cookie before he could yank it away again. She couldn't stay mad for long of course. "One heck of a good cook, though."

Johnny gave her a small bow. "Why thank you," he said as he turned back to the lasagne and putting the finishing touches on it. "The recipe's pretty idiot proof, though. Most of Lorna's school recipies are."

"But the fact that you don't mess up idiot proof is a good sign," Angel said with a nod as she eyed the lasagna. "A very good sign indeed."

"You can't eat it till it's cooked." 

"You're no fun," Angel grumped, but she was smiling.