The Green and the Violet

Bed & Breakfast

Aviva dozed peacefully in her room as the sun's early morning rays filtered through the window. Not long ago, she and Koki had installed separate individual bedrooms into the Tortuga (due to some rude awakenings from a pair of crazy creature adventurers countless mornings before..). Needless to say, she's been getting better night's sleep ever since.
It was one of those lazy mornings. No creature missions, no new inventions to work on, just peace and quiet–"AGHHHHH!!!!!!!" Scratch that..
The silence of the Tortuga was broken by a bloodcurdling scream. Another soon followed, later joined by the blaring of the smoke detector. So much for a peaceful morning...
  Now fully awake, Aviva heaved a sigh. Getting out of bed to investigate the commotion, she slowly made her way to the main room, rubbing her eyes. Following the racket to the kitchen, the door parted where an unpleasant surprise awaited.
"What the–?"
The kitchen looked like a war-zone; pots and pans were scattered about, several plates laid broken and shattered, and the stove burst into flames. Laid out on top, an oil filled frying pan roared to life. A startled yelp escaped her lips as barrage of oily bullets leaping forth, almost hitting the inventor. She quickly flipped it off. The smoke detector was silenced as she turned that off as well.
This was definitely not the work of Jimmy Z; his room may be unsavory, but his culinary talents were most certainly not. If anything, the redheaded video game-addict was just as talented at cooking as piloting the Tortuga, and he almost never leaves a mess, much less set off the alarm. Besides, she could hear him snoring in his room not far away. Koki could definitely be crossed off the suspect list since apart from helping JZ, she almost never cooks. This could only mean two culprits.
"Kratt Brothers!"yelled Aviva, turning her head towards the island counter. It wasn't long before Chris was forcefully shoved out of his hiding place behind the island counter as a flash of blue dashed full speed out of the kitchen.
"It was him!"
Thanks a lot, bro, thought Chris, sending a glare in the direction Martin went before turning his attention to an angry Aviva.
"Oh, umm.. Hey, Aviva. How's your morning?"the Kratt in green chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. Personally the young Kratt would rather face a charging tiger than his girlfriend's anger.
"How was my morning?! I was enjoying some extra hours of sleep until I heard a certain pair of payasos salvajes gritando como loco! Now what do you two have against the concept of sleep?! And why is the kitchen a mess?"
"I'm really sorry, Aviva. I was just preparing breakfast. I wanted it done by the time you were awake."
Aviva's anger softened upon hearing the younger Kratt's confession. Awww, that's so sweet, she thought. The Kratt in question went on.
"I was never really the best cook, so Martin decided to help out. We tried making those taquitos that your mom used to make when we were kids.."
*Flashback...*
"Remind me why we're doing this again?"asked Martin as he and Chris cut several boiled chicken breasts into fine shreds. "Couldn't we just make pancakes or something?"
"I wanna prepare something really special for Aviva. We've been together for a month now, and you of all people know full well that my cooking's not the best in the world."
"Yeah, I'd rather eat at Gourmand's than anything you prepare in the kitchen."replied the Kratt in blue jokingly, laughing a little. "His chocolate sauce was off the charts."
  Chris wasn't amused. "Very funny, bro. I've been thinking; maybe we can prepare those taquitos that Aviva's mom used to make."
"Now that you mention it, taquitos do sound good right now. It's been ages since we last had Mexican food." Martin's mouth watered at the very thought.
"So what do you say, brother o mine?"asked the Kratt in green already donning a green apron that said: Eat@WildKrattsCafé before passing a blue one to Martin. The Kratt in question simply beamed an infectious grin before the both shouted:
"Let's get cooking!"
Together the Kratt Brothers experimented with and prepared lemonade with lime and made bacon and sunny side eggs almost professionally.
"That wasn't so bad."remarked the Kratt in blue confidently, once they had most of the entrees prepared.
"Now for the hard part,"replied Chris after placing a batch of cupcakes in the oven. Long dramatic pause before they answered in unison: "The taquitos."
It took much trial and error before the taquitos took on their proper form. Once a good number were assembled, Martin turned on the stove after filling a good sized frying pan with cooking oil.
"Next step: Put the tacos into the frying pan and let them fry until the tortillas have turned brown and crispy."read Chris from a culinary website on his Creaturepod. "Simple enough."
No sooner had the first batch of taquitos touched the pan when they briefly caught on fire, startling the two Kratts who recoiled their hands back in shock.
"Martin, you put the setting on too high!"
"I'm sorry!"
All hell broke lose as the stove came alive with flames and oily bullets flew out of the cauldron in all directions. One pellet hit the Kratt in blue square on the forehead, causing him to holler wildly in pain.
"Martin!"
Martin then felt himself being tackled to the ground by a flash of green. Chris then yelped in pain as his hand was struck by a drop of fiery hot liquid.
"TAKE COVER!!!" yelled the brothers simultaneously.
  It was every Kratt for himself as they bolted for cover, hiding behind the island counter, knocking over pots, pans, and plates in the process. Overhead the smoke detector blared loudly, echoing across the kitchen.
"Mamma Corcovado made it look so easy!"said the younger Kratt clutching his hand.
"Look on the bright side, bro. We did such a good job that even the smoke alarm's cheering us on."
But Martin's remark only received a deadpan stare from Chris before he felt a flick on his forehead, causing the Kratt in blue to yelp in pain once more.
*End of Flashback...*
"Who knew cooking can be so dangerous?"
The inventor giggled over the mental picture of the brothers Kratt, fearless creature adventurers who could approach the biggest and most dangerous animals, dodging and evading an endless barrage of oily bullets from a little frying pan, seeking refuge behind the counter as though WWIII broke out.
"Are you okay, Chris?"she asked, seeing the Kratt in green wince in pain, clutching one of his hands.
"My hand got burned. Real bad."
"Ay, pobresito."cooed Aviva, gently taking her boyfriend's burned hand, kissing it. "Here's an old trick my mom taught me. This may sting just a little."
Taking a bottle of mustard, she applied a small drop on the burn. Chris flinched slightly on contact, but pain slowly gave way to relief, evident from the sigh that escaped his lips.
"Feeling better?"
"Much. Thanks, Aviva."
"Successful or not, this is just about the sweetest thing anyone's ever tried to do for me."
"Though I doubt I'll ever try cooking taquitos again anytime soon."added the Kratt in green, rubbing the back of his neck, his face red in embarrassment.
"Then why don't we prepare the next batch together?"offered the inventor.
"Really?" She nodded.
"Sounds great!" Aviva giggled at the young Kratt's childlike enthusiasm, and before she knew it, he pulled her in a tight embrace. It didn't take Aviva very long to return the hug. I wish this moment could last forever, Aviva thought to herself, until she caught whiff of something. "Is something burning?" Chris' eyes widened as though someone told him a certain creature went extinct. "The cupcakes!"
  No more was said as the Kratt in green darted over to the oven. Watching him go, Aviva rolled her eyes in amusement as she helped herself to a bit of the bacon and eggs the two amateur chefs prepared. Mmm... delicioso. Chris soon came back with a batch of cupcakes smothered in purple buttercream frosting. "For you."
"Mmm. Delicioso.."complimented the inventor after trying one.
"Thanks. Martin and I did a lot of baking when we were kids." He was just about to take a bite himself when he felt himself being dragged anxiously by the hand. "Hey!"
"C'mon, Cariño. Lemme show you how it's done."said the inventor with a wink.
After a few minutes, the two had just prepared a fine batch of crispy taquitos when they were suddenly caught by surprise as an angry feminine voice yelled: "What the heck happened around here?!"
**** Personally I found this one-shot a lot of fun to write; I could not stop laughing at the idea of the Kratt bros having a little mishap while cooking.. that and taquitos are a favorite treat of mine..