Aconitum Napellus

Bittersweet

The next day, Blue woke up, his head aching. After all, not much sleep had been had the night before. He'd simply sat in bed, eyes closed, unable to shut off his mind. At about two in the morning, he'd given up on sleeping and, instead, proceeded to unblock Dust on everything he could remember which, admittedly, took quite a long time. Dust had known about every account on every website, and he had tried to contact him through all of them more than once before Stretch finally made Blue block him.

Shaking his head slightly, Blue shoved the covers off of himself and slung his legs out of bed. He quickly grabbed the blue gloves from the bedside table, slipping them on. He then changed from his pajamas into his usual clothes, moving to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He splashed water on his face, being careful to avoid looking in the mirror. He could already tell, today was not a good mental health day.

Blue sighed and made his way to the kitchen, where his brother greeted him.

"Heya, Blue!" he said from the couch. "You're going to work today, I assume?"

Blue hesitated before responding. "I guess so."

"Are you feeling better than last night?"

"...mostly."

Blue pulled at his gloves and passed in front of the television. He pulled out a box of sugary cereal and a bowl, pouring the unhealthy mix and not bothering with milk or a spoon. Sighing, he sat down on the couch next to his brother, watching as Stretch flipped through channels, never settling on one for more than thirty seconds. He dug his hands into the bowl of cereal in front of him and shoveled it in his mouth.

"Ew." Stretch grimaced. "You aren't going to use... ya know... a spoon?"

"Nope," Blue mumbled through bites. "You aren't going to... ya know... choose a channel?"

Stretch laughed. "Not until you use a spoon."

"I guess we're watching every channel this morning, then," Blue said with a smirk.

He continued to shovel the cereal into his mouth, hoping that his gloves were cleaner than he thought they were. He couldn't remember the last time that he'd washed them, and he'd worn them every day for years now. Maybe it was time for a wash before he condemned himself to wearing them forever- No, not forever. He wasn't going to do it again, so this was only temporary. They could still use a clean anyways, he figured, but the idea of exerting the energy necessary to do that drained him enough. Maybe another day.

Blue noticed his brother nervously glancing over towards him. It was fair, he supposed. Stretch hadn't seen him eat so... carelessly since... He was fine, though. He was just tired and didn't feel like cooking. Was that a crime? Still, with not a word said, Stretch remained concerned.

"So..." Stretch drawled. "How has work been?"

Blue could tell that he was trying to start a conversation and hesitantly obliged. "It's been alright, I suppose."

"What do you do as an apprentice cook?" he said with a dramatic flourish of his hands.

The other chuckled. "Not cook, that's for sure," he spat angrily. "All I do is sit and watch other people cook."

Some people might assume that that's melodrama, but, in this case, it's actually true. Blue had not once touched a cooking utensil in the entirety of the four months that he had been working there. From the time that he had applied and been to the interview, Blue could tell that it wasn't going to be the most... informative experience. The second he had walked into the building for his interview, he could see the way that the humans flinched at the appearance of a monster. Despite what many wanted to think, coming to the surface hadn't been all sunshine and rainbows. There was still a hefty amount of discrimination within some communities, and it would seem that one of those happened to be the culinary community. Lucky him. Due to discrimination laws or whatever sort of rewards they would get for hiring a monster, he was accepted into the position of "apprentice cook" aka "you're a cook on paper but don't actually get near any food". Hooray. Such fun.