Just one Dish. Charles Grey x Reader

         At five o'clock, on the dot, there was a loud, powerful knock at your front door. The knocking was in perfect rhythm with your large grandfather clock's chimes, almost as if your guest could hear them from outside your home. Already knowing who was at the door, you stopped what you were doing and rushed to open it. “You're right on time. I should have expected that from you, since there's food involved.” Smiling happily, you took hold of Charles's hand and tried to pull him inside. “Come in.”

“Thank you.” More than happy to do as you said, Charles stepped over your threshold and closed the door. Now inside, he lifted his nose into the air, loosely closed his eyes and sniffed around like a hungry dog. “It smells amazing in here.”

“I'm glad you think so, but there's a little problem. You might be on time, but the food's going to be a little late. I didn't start on things as early as I should have.” A bit embarrassed that you hadn't prepared things better, you began to blush. “It shouldn't be that much longer though. Maybe ten more minutes, then we can eat.”

“That's fine. I'm not all that hungry at the moment anyway.” As soon as the words had left his lips, a large gurgling noise erupted from his slinder mid-section, betraying him. “Okay, maybe I am a little bit hungry, but it's fine. Is there anything I can do to help you speed things along?”

“Nope. You're just going to have to sit there while I finish. I promised I would take you out, and never did, so this is how I'm making it up to you. If I let you help me, I'll still owe you, and that would completely defeat the purpose of this.” Rushing away from the front door, you made your way into the kitchen and checked on your dishes. As you lifted the heavy lids covering your dishes to check on them, the smell of what you were preparing, filled the small kitchen, causing Charles's stomach to rumble again.

Hoping you hadn't heard, Charles cleared his throat and looked around. “Your house looks nice. It's hard to believe how it looked a few weeks ago. Honestly, I never thought it would be livable. I guess I was wrong.”

Proud of all the work you'd done to make the old house a home, you crossed your arms over your chest and grinned smugly. “I told you from the very beginning that it just needed a bit of cleaning and fixing up. There was a proper house under all that dirt and rubbish, just like I said there would be. I just had to do a lot of work to find it.” More than happy with how your new home had turned out, you glanced around and nodded in approval. “I was sore for days and days after cleaning this place up. Still, I think it was worth it.”

“It did turn out livable, so I guess you were right.” Dropping down to your kitchen table, his expression suddenly changed from his normal, energetic, outgoing one, to an uncomfortable, concerned one. “You haven't found anymore snakes since that one we found while cleaning, have you?”

For a moment, you tried to decide whether or not you should tease him. In the end, you couldn't stop yourself from having just a little bit of fun with him. Putting on your most serious, honest front, you lifted your finger to your chin and feigned thought. “Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I've found a ton of them.” You were lying, of course, but it was all in harmless fun. “There must be a nest around here or something. I'll have to go looking for it one of these days.” Shrugging nonchalantly, you dismissed the subject. “Luckily, they're all pretty friendly. And so far, none of the one's I've seen have been venomous.”

Your words, though none of them true, left Charles pale faced and clammy. Frozen with worry, and possibly even fear, he looked up at you and spoke in a slow, desperate tone. “You're lying, right? There haven't been any more snakes. You wouldn't have invited me over here if there had been.”

Unable to keep up the act, you started to laugh. “No, there haven't been any more snakes. Not even a single, tiny one.” Feeling no remorse at all for the harmless joke, you teased him further. “I'm pretty sure there have been a couple of ghosts floating around, however. But, I guess that's to be expected with a house this old. I'm sure they won't mess with you though, as long as you're respectful towards them.”

Not at all inclined to believe your latest lie, Charles shook his head and sighed. “You're not funny in the slightest you know. You're just cruel.”

“Really? It made me laugh, so I thought it was a pretty good joke.  I'll just have to try harder next time.” Grinning to yourself, you began to place the now finished dishes of food on the table in front of him. Knowing all too well that Charles had an enormous appetite, you'd prepared enough food for an entire houseful of people. The more food you placed in front of him, the wider his eyes became. By the time you placed the last dish on the table, he was almost salivating. “Hopefully this will be enough to make up for the terrible emotional distress I've caused you.”

Amazed by how much food you'd prepared, Charles could barely speak. When he did speak, his tone reminded you of an excited little boy. “You didn't have to make this much food, but I'm glad you did. It will definitely make up for all your cruel, unfunny jokes.”

Glad the cooking was over and done with, you sat down across from him and smiled. “Good, then go ahead and eat before you drown in your own drool. It would be a real pity if all this went to waste after all.”

“If you insist.” The moment he had your permission to do so, Charles began to eat. He didn't try, even for a second to use any sort of manners. He just scarfed down one plate after another, barely even stopping between bites to breathe. In very little time, he had created a large stack of dirty plates beside him. You weren't sure why he felt the need to use a new plate each time he cleared one off, but one thing was for sure, if he continued on this way, you were going to run out of things for him to eat off of. You were so amazed by how much he could eat, you didn't even realize that you had yet to touch your plate of food. By the time he finally finished, every last thing you'd made, save what was on your plate, had been devoured and your kitchen was a mess of dirty flatware. Full, at least for the moment, Charles happily leaned back in his seat and eyed your plate. “Aren't you going to eat? You haven't touched your food yet.”

“O-oh, right.” Afraid he might try to eat your meal as well if you didn't hurry, you picked up your fork and quickly began to eat your now luke-warm food. “Be honest here, did you even taste any of that, or did you just eat so you wouldn't be hungry? I've never seen anyone eat that much food in so little time before in my life. Especially not someone as small as you.”

A little confused by your question, Charles nodded. “Of course I tasted it. I don't know how my eating quickly would have stopped me from tasting it.” Not wanting to seem like he wasn't thankful, he gave a slight bow. “It was absolutely delicious.”

In truth, you weren't sure that you believed him, but it wasn't important. Your debt to him had been re-payed and he seemed happy. “Well, I'm  certainly glad you liked it. I'm not the best chef in the world, so it's good to know that I didn't make anything ghastly.” Letting out a quiet sigh, you looked around your now dirty kitchen. “But really, did you have to use so many plates? I think just using one would have worked just as well, and it wouldn't have made such a mess.”

“What do you mean?” Unable to keep still any longer, Charles rose from his seat and pushed in his chair. “You're supposed to use a new plate each time you go back for seconds. It keeps the foods from mixing, and I'm pretty sure that it's proper etiquette.”

“I've never heard that before. Not unless you're eating at a buffet anyway.” Finally finished with your own food, you too, stood up and pushed your chair in. “Now, since I spent all day cooking all of this, I think you should have to do the dishes. After that, I think we can call things even.” Stepping away from the table in an attempt to hide your smirk, you prepared for him to argue with you. “I'll make us some tea while you do.”

“Okay, I suppose that's fair enough.” Figuring that cleaning a few dirty dishes was a small price to pay for the meal he'd eaten, Charles turned around to face the sink. When he did this, he was greeted with not only a sink full of dishes, but several large stacks of them on the counters. It was at this moment that he realized the true gravity of his actions. No longer nearly as enthusiastic, he furrowed his brows and shook his head. “Maybe you're right, one plate would have sufficed.”