Boiling the Chicken: Part II
As cooked by
Chang "Emotional" Wufei
"Ok, Maxwell, now we add the chicken, celery leaves, giblets, onion, salt, and pepper."
As Duo added the other ingredients, Wufei picked up the onion, a large knife, and the cutting board. He peeled off the top dry layer of onion, since it didn't seem like that part was really edible, and began cutting.
"Chicken."
"Celery Leaves."
"Giblets..." By this point Wufei was feeling a very odd prickly sensation at the back of his eyes. He blinked several times and wondered if he was allergic to one of the ingredients. Maybe one of the spices was irritating his sinuses. This didn't feel like an allergy though, his eyes didn't even exactly itch, they felt sort of... He stopped mid-thought as a large round tear made its way down his cheek.
What?!! I can't be crying! I'm not some silly, weak woman! What is going on?! Oh shit oh shit oh shit! What if Maxwell saw that! Oh shit oh--"Hey, Wufei? I've never had giblets before. Are they soft once you cook them?"
Wufei mumbled something as he frantically tried to grasp what was going on. What? What is he asking me about? Did he see me? Is that why hes asking if they're soft? Is he implying that I'm soft?
"What was that?" Duo chirped from the other side of the kitchen.
"I said of course they ARENT SOFT MAXWELL!" The knife slid through the onion and slammed onto the cutting board. Wufei realized he couldn't even see the cutting board through the water in his eyes. Irritably he wiped them on a sleeve and cast a glare in the braided boy's direction but Duo was blithely stirring the contents of the pot and didn't appear to have noticed.
What the hell? He didn't even feel sad. In fact, he wasn't the least bit upset at all. Except for the fact that he was still leaking from the eyes it had been a pleasant day; no mission, no battles, Duo was spending time with him a in a calm, non-hyper activity...it couldn't have gotten much better. So what the hell was he weeping for?! In horror he thought of a conversation he had overheard between Sally and Noin, in which Noin had confessed that there was a day or two each month when she felt like crying for no reason at all and Sally had assured her that it was perfectly normal for hormone shifts to produce strong emotional reactions. His eyes widened. He could NOT be behaving like a pre-menstrual female! Oh, God. Maybe this was the result of cooking. Maybe spending so much time in the kitchen had a strong effect on one's body chemistry. Damn Winner for being sick!
Wufei finished cutting the onion as quickly as he could. He scraped the slices off the cutting board into the pot with the surliest grunt he had and prayed that Duo wouldn't notice the puffiness under his eyes.