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It wasn’t often that Kaeya got caught as he snuck around to do something. However, being eleven years old and all, he should have expected to get caught sneaking around the mansion at some point in his life. He always thought he was being exceptionally quiet, but maybe he had gotten a little too confident since he had never gotten caught before. Not in the past couple years he’d been here.
But there Crepus was, standing in the kitchen doorway, still seemingly exhausted as he tried to figure out what was going on.
Kaeya was sitting on the counter, ingredients scattered around his legs as he continued to reach for more, but frozen in place with his right hand holding the cabinet open, and the salt just an inch from his hand. It was only after a few moments that he slowly started to reach for it once more, quietly placing it amongst the other ingredients.
Maybe Crepus was sleep walking? With his eyes open? It seemed like something Crepus would do.
When was the last time Kaeya was caught sneaking around? He thinks it was last year when Adelinde caught him trying to make a batch of cookies to hand to everyone for his birthday, and she was trying to get something baked for him early too. It was then that she told him it wasn’t his job to try and make things to celebrate his own birthday, and had sent him back to bed.
Kaeya slowly slid off the counter, careful to not knock anything down while he kept eye contact with the tired and confused Crepus. The man took a look around the kitchen once more, eyeing the dim light from the candle Kaeya brought down to keep himself from turning on any of the big lights, and then turned to eye all of the ingredients. Finally, he brought his hand to his face, rubbing his eyes as he turned to look at Kaeya.
“What are you doing up at four in the morning,” was the first thing Crepus had said in the time he stood in the doorway. Kaeya didn’t say anything, but still maintained eye contact as he grabbed the cutting board from the drawer just in front of him, sliding that onto the counter, some of the ingredients being pushed out of the way to make room. “Are you getting a late night… no, early morning snack?”
The eleven year old gave a slow nod as he reached for the mushrooms and the knife he got out earlier.
“You could have woken me up if you really wanted something. I wouldn’t want you making things down here by yourself at this time. Y’know what, what even has you up right now,” Crepus questions as he walks further into the kitchen, getting a closer look at everything Kaeya had grabbed.
“Bad dream,” Kaeya replied, knowing there wasn’t much use in trying to lie about it. Crepus would know anyway, no matter what lie Kaeya tried to come up with for being up at four in the morning.
“And… instead of breakfast food… you’re making chicken-mushroom skewers?” There was another nod in response. The father sighed as he said “Hey, let’s get something else to eat. I’ll just make sure we have a lot of chicken-mushroom skewers for lunch instead. Breakfast food for breakfast instead.”
Kaeya stared at all of the ingredients he had pulled out for a while before obliging, and starting to climb on the counter again to put everything away. But Crepus was quick to put Kaeya’s feet back on the ground, saying “I’m pretty sure Addie would kill me if she saw you climbing on the counter. You let me put this stuff away, and then you can put away the cold foods.”
With yet another nod, Kaeya grabs the mushrooms and chicken, watching for only a moment as Crepus started putting a lot of the seasoning away.
“Wouldn’t Adelinde be upset at us anyway for cooking breakfast instead of letting her,” Kaeya questions as he puts the ingredients back into their usual places.
Crepus lets in a sharp inhale of air as he cringes at the thought of Adelinde’s lecturing, and stands there for a moment in thought, still reaching for the seasonings on the counter, and putting them away one by one. Once he finally let out that deep breath, he said “We could always leave Diluc’s breakfast to her.”
“But then Diluc will be upset, and you’ll still get a long lecture.”
“We could always eat before she wakes up, and be ready for a second breakfast?”
“She’ll see right through us. Addie knows better. You can’t get away with this stuff.”
Crepus slowly turns towards Kaeya with an amused smile, saying “And you’ll get away with it?”
Kaeya takes a minute to think of how he should respond, juggling the idea of the truth, or telling the lie. But with how the conversation was going, the truth seemed like the better option.
“This isn’t my first time making myself something to eat after a nightmare. And nobody hasn’t caught me until today.” Kaeya looks away from Crepus as he speaks, deciding it was a better idea to pinch at the edge of the counter than look at his adopted father.
Crepus falls silent for a while, and it only makes Kaeya more nervous. It only took a moment before the man could be heard walking closer though, and just one other moment for him to be pulling Kaeya in a hug. He slowly lowered them both to sit on the floor, Kaeya sitting on one of Crepus’s thighs as he crossed his legs.
“Kaeya, there’s no need to keep trying to be so self reliant. You can come to me, Adelinde, and even Diluc if you need. Even if it isn’t by much, Diluc is your older brother, and happily fell into that role when I brought you home, and you agreed to stay with us. He’s more than happy to help you. And I’d feel better knowing that you have someone with you in case something goes wrong, because… well, you don’t like to tell us if something’s wrong. You could have chopped your finger off, and wouldn’t tell us even if it hurt really badly.”
“But I’ve been careful. I wouldn’t cut my finger off.”
“And I’m sure you also wouldn’t accidentally knock over that candle that braely provides enough light, and then set the kitchen on fire. Even then, you’d try to take care of that yourself instead of waking someone up. I worry about you, Kaeya.”
“I’m fine though. Just making something to eat.”
“At four in the morning. Because of a nightmare. And you didn’t come to anyone.”
“Well I didn’t want to wake anyone up, and chicken-mushroom skewers can make everything better. Diluc always says that his favorite food makes him feel better, so I figured mine would too.”
Crepus let out another sigh that night, pulling Kaeya into a tighter squeeze. “I’ll make even more for lunch than originally planned. But we’re doing breakfast food first. I’ll deal with Addie’s wrath.”
Kaeya took a moment to think about that, looking up at the ceiling, and then shrugged, saying “I guess that will work. But we get toast and eggs for breakfast.”
“Deal.” And with that, Crepus stood himself and Kaeya up once more, and busied himself with grabbing all of the ingredients, Kaeya rushing to grab some himself, trying to make sure he could help. It was his idea after all, and he still had no clue what Crepus was up for. He was worried that he had made too much noise, and ended up waking his father up on accident.
So Kaeya did his best to try and take most of the work for cooking, and even cleaning up as he went. But Crepus had beaten him to making the eggs, letting Kaeya be the one to make toast.
Before they knew it, the smell of toast and eggs filled the kitchen, and time was quickly passing by. Even though it was a quick and easy meal, time was passing quickly, and five in the morning was coming up. That meant that in just another hour, the sun would be coming up, and Adelinde would be making her way down the stairs to cook breakfast for the two already in the kitchen, and Diluc, who was still sleeping the night away in his room.
“What do you think Adelinde will be making for breakfast today,” Kaeya asks Crepus, who chuckles as he says “Hopefully not eggs and toast. She always notices when something is missing. And if we want to get away with this tonight, that’s going to be one of the things we really hope for.”
And with that, Crepus starts putting the eggs onto the two plates, right next to the buttered toast that Kaeya had prepared, and had plated for a long while.
With the last of the food being served, Kaeya grabbed two forks, quietly placing them onto the plates. Crepus smiled as he grabbed his own plate, and passed the other one to Kaeya. Plate in hand, he sat down on the floor, patting the ground next to him for Kaeya to sit too. The eleven year old happily obliged, sitting down next to his father while taking his first bite of the eggs.
In turn, Crepus started eating the toast on his plate first.
“Y’know, maybe I should trust you in the kitchen more often. This is pretty good toast,” Crepus compliments, reaching over with his free hand to ruffle Kaeya’s already messy, bed head hair. “But I do think some company after a nightmare will do you some good. Never be afraid to wake me up. Just remember that you’re never alone in this house.”
Kaeya doesn’t exactly have much to say to that, but he does give his father a small smile before returning to his food, quickly finishing it up as he usually did, and then turning to the mess that was still left behind from Crepus. Both of the boys were quick to get to work cleaning, and made it just before the sun was starting to rise.
However, just as they were sneaking pack Adelinde’s room, her door flew open as the tired looking head maid looked at them, and said “You two were sneaking around. I know that look anywhere.”
“Ah, Adelinde! Did we wake you? We didn’t think we were that noisy,” Crepus starts to say, sparing a quick glance to Kaeya, who was already retreating back to his room with a grin, remembering the man’s promise to face Adelidne’s wrath if she were to find out.
Crepus definitely seemed to be regretting it now as he tried to avoid dragging Kaeya into it, and take everything himself.
“-and I was planning on making you three eggs, bacon, and toast this morning! It was going to be a nice, big breakfast too since you told me you finally get to relax today! What if there isn’t enough for that big of a breakfast?”
“Addie, I’m sure there will still be enough! After all, I did just see the supply of food we have. We’re hardly low on anything, because you’re always so reliable, and make sure we always have plenty, and nothing will go bad, because you’ll make sure all the stuff is used up beforehand.”
“Oh, you could have at least gotten me! I’m here for a reason, Master Crepus. I hate that my usual tasks are something that you or one of the boys will take on. Gosh, you’re all so similar in that way.”
And with that, Kaeya shuts his door with a grin, leaping onto his bed and grabbing the shell he left on his nightstand after he had gotten to go to the beach with Diluc a couple months ago.
They still had the promised breakfast, but it was a little later than their usual breakfast time. It wasn’t only because Crepus and Kaeya had eaten something earlier, but also because, by some miracle, Diluc was sleeping in late. But Adelinde was quick to have the promised meal ready not too long before Diluc woke up, and sleepily trudged down the stairs.
As they sat at the large dining table, all eating the breakfast, Diluc looked between Adelinde, Crepus, and Kaeya for a long while before saying “What did I miss?”
“Just the fact that we’re going to have a really big lunch with a lot of chicken-mushroom skewers. Father promised,” Kaeya replies, shooting Crepus a large grin. Adelinde slowly turned towards Crepus before letting out a long sigh, and saying “I’ll have it prepared later.”
“No, no, Addie, I can get that done,” Crepus starts to argue, only for Adelinde to turn towards him with a determined glare. There seemed to be some silent argument between them that Diluc didn’t understand, but Kaeya fully did. It was probably something like:
“It’s a lot of skewers. I can make them.” That would come from Crepus.
“Well you already took my job once today, and skewers are quite the easy meal.” Adelinde would be saying that out loud if it weren’t for the fact that she knew Crepus and Kaeya didn’t want to make Diluc jealous about missing a second breakfast.
“Yes, an easy meal. No need to busy yourself with that.”
“You can busy yourself with playing with the boys while I cook. Plenty of skewers will be ready by lunch.”
And like that, their argument would be over, and Adelinde would win. That was already apparent enough in their expressions.
And that went as Kaeya predicted. Crepus spent the day with the boys, and they had a large picnic outside with bowls of fruit and plenty of chicken-mushroom skewers specially prepared by Adelinde.
Kaeya even had the chance to test things out with his food, putting the fruit on the skewers as well, placing them between the mushrooms and chicken. He actually really enjoyed that part, and decided that this was his new favorite way to have chicken-mushroom skewers.
Maybe it would be a good idea to drag Crepus downstairs for early morning snacks more often.