A Giant's Hands [ON HOLD]

Chapter 8b [Maki/Bennett] - Grabbing A Bite

In the end, they settled for pancakes with sugar, seeing as the only other available option was pasta with ketchup.

Bennett felt pretty lucky to even be able to offer that much, since he hadn't bought anything but take-out during the past nine days, and neither of them was in the mood to wait for a delivery.

Val had loved to cook, and, being not exactly disposed towards rational choices at the time, Bennett had thrown almost all of their cooking supplies out - along with all her other stuff - the day after she left him for Hideki (whom, apparently, she had been sleeping with for quite some time).

Fortunately, he had kept at least some of the basics and had found an old, unopened jar of applesauce* he had missed during his kitchen purge, right at the back of one of the cupboards. Since the oatmilk* hadn't gone off yet, pancakes it was, which to Bennett's immense pleasure delighted Maki no end.

*[Author's Note: Yup, no such thing as eating animal products in this book, vegan cooking only - deal with it ;)
''Really! Eggs, meat, and dairy are disgusting, how can you even think about eating something like that? ..Hm? Eating people? Yea, that's fine.'' :D ]

Getting her hands on cooked food was rare enough for her, because while not impossible to get, it generally involved having to open the fridge- which was not only difficult but also dangerous - so she generally stuck to nicking staples instead.

Over the past two years Maki had rigged up something like a toaster, by carefully removing the glass from two old lightbulbs, and making use of the heat emitted by the wires when she connected them to one the batteries she owned, and while they did get pretty hot, it wasn't really enough to truly cook with, but barely sufficed to toast or warm up things a little, and was all in all fairly cumbersome.

So Maki had never had pancakes before, that were not only fresh, but also still hot, and watching her wolf down the tiny chunk he had cut for her like it was the most amazing thing she had ever eaten, Bennett couldn't help but grin like an idiot.

She managed a pretty impressive portion for her size, and then simply let herself fall back from her sitting position - so she was now just lying there on his kitchen table - and sighed happily.

''That, was a-ma-zing. I could kiss you for making those, if you weren't so bloody huge and I wasn't too stuffed to move, that is.''

Bennett laughed. ''Glad I finally did something right, then.''

Maki yawned.

''Mind you, you're still an oaf,'' she declared drowsily, making Bennet chuckle again.

''Duly noted'', he got out, before, infected by Maki, he too had to yawn.

''Sleep?'', she asked.

''Sleep'', he confirmed, adding ''I even promise not to hoover'', which earned him a giggle.

Stretching, Maki sat up on the kitchen table and looked around. How was she supposed to get down from here anyway? Come to think of it, how had she gotten up here in the first place?
Oh, she thought. Oh, right.
The Oaf.
He must have-
He had...

Oh god.

He had picked her up while she was out.
Of course.
How else would she have gotten onto the table?

A shudder ran all the way down Maki's spine.

The Oaf had picked her up. With his hands. She had been in a human's hands. In the Oaf's hands. He had held her in his hands while she was unconscious.

Oh god.

He could have done anything.
He still could do anything.

The thought scared her more than she cared to admit, but...
But...
When she thought of Bennett holding her, part of her was also...

'No.' Maki shook herself internally. 'Stop being an idiot. He picked me up, so what? Anyone would have. You don't just leave passed out people lying on the floor. It's just the Oaf. No need to be scared of the Oaf, he's fine, just stupid. I'll just ask him to help me down and- '

Maki stopped mid-thought as a large shadow falling over her made her look up.

Her heart stopped and she entirely forgot to breathe, as, paralyzed by fear, she watched Bennett's enormous hand come speeding towards her, his fingers outstretched, as he simply and unceremoniously reached out to grab her.