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Benny habitually checked clocks in any room he entered. In the kitchen, it was usually the microwave or the stove. Both of which tended to run a little fast as time wore on. He'd have to check his phone to know how much they were running ahead, but the stove said 5:02 when he meandered his way over to the fridge. Plenty of time to decide what he was cooking for dinner and get his mise en place all mise en placed. Adrian probably would have laughed at that. He'd have to remember to text Adrian the joke.
The front door burst open then, disrupting his thoughts. He checked the stove clock again. Still 5:02. Too early for Dante to be coming home. He was fairly certain Kel hadn't left all day, but they usually kept to their office, so he wasn't certain.
"Honeyyyy, I'm hooome," bellowed Dante.
There was a time, some years back, when the Andalite military had been unaware of how strongly the Bandalites felt about their Taxxon allies. The second time Dante made his feelings about this public, it had been by starting a brawl with some drunk Andalite soldiers in a bar who resented being stationed on Earth.
Everyone, including the Andalites, had gotten thrown in jail about it. The Andalites got sent back to their Dome ship and had to make a public apology; Dante had to pay a fine and cover damages at the bar. No big deal.
Benny had gone to pick Dante up from the jail, leaving Kel at home because how many people did you really need to pick up a friend from jail? When the pair of men had come home, Dante had yelled his I Love Lucy imitation to alert Kel to the fact that they were back.
Now, it was just something Dante yelled when he'd had a bad day. Benny couldn't help smiling to himself, even as he mentally prepared sympathetic noises for whatever Dante had gone through.
"Is that really necessary?" grumbled Kel, presumably talking to Dante, at the same time Benny called back his location.
"In the kitchen!"
Benny closed the fridge door, realizing he could hear plastic bags rustling just as Kel yelled a demand at him.
"Come help with these groceries!"
"You left?" he asked.
Benny found Dante elbowing the door shut when he reached them. Dante brushed past to the kitchen, still talking to Kel about exactly why his behavior was absolutely necessary, based on the day he'd had.
Kel, meanwhile, sat on the bench next to the door, gently panting for breath, two giant carabiners worth of grocery bags heaped at their feet. They gave Benny a breathless little smile.
"It's not as bad as he's making out."
"It was worse!" Dante yelled from the kitchen in the same tone of voice he used when Benny was smug about being right.
"You two went shopping?" Benny asked. Less out of confusion about the obvious fact that they had, and more out of confusion for why they'd done it without first consulting him. Kel chuckled and fished Benny's keys out of their pocket.
"Ah, you stole my car."
"Once a criminal, always a criminal."
"My car needed gas," Dante interrupted, banging something around in the kitchen, "And we were already there, so we just got it done. Also, are you doing anything special with these frozen vegetables in here?"
"What are you doing in my kitchen?" asked Benny, moving the non-perishable groceries from in front of Kel to a table where he could remove the carabiners and sort through what needed to go where. Kel flashed him a brief, grateful smile. They'd need a few minutes to catch their breath and take off their shoes.
"I'm making seafood alfredo," Dante responded. It was his best recipe, and his favorite one to make, as far as Benny knew. Something about dumping in the frozen seafood. Would it have been better fresh? Probably. Did any of them care? No.
"I don't think seafood alfredo needs all the veg, so it's fine. You've got the seafood in there, yeah?"
"Putting it and the nugs away."
"Dammit, have you even finished the dino nuggets that are already in there?" Benny liked dino nuggies in theory, but in practice, Dante committed culinary crimes of the highest order with them. Kel made a sound that drew Benny's eye their way. He found them giving him a sheepish smile and heaved a sigh.
"Nevermind, looks like Kel finished the ones in there?"
"Yeah, cause there's none in here. We've got onions, right?"
Benny scoffed loud enough for Dante to hear. He would not be dignifying that question with an answer. Instead, he searched the bags he had, setting aside the alfredo noodles he knew would be there. Then he frowned at the discovery of an inexplicable carton of heavy cream that should have been with Dante in the kitchen.
"I have your heavy cream."
Dante stormed out, carrying a second carton of heavy cream.
"What do you mean? I have the heavy cream!"
"I thought you wanted 2 quarts?"
Both men looked at Kel. Kel looked at them, one shoe half off, clearly puzzled. Benny looked at Dante, who groaned aloud.
"I said two cups!"
"Oops."
Benny cut in then, "Should I return it?"
Dante slumped, taking the carton from Benny with a whine, "No…we can make butter from it, right?"
Kel snorted. Benny wanted to, but didn't. He just followed Dante into the kitchen.
"I mean, if you really want to make your own butter, we can. But what's going on?"
"Help me with the chopping?" Dante asked, by way of negotiation.
Benny's reply was firm. "Groceries away first." Having the groceries out would bother Kel, but they would struggle with putting everything away. And Dante put the groceries away wrong. So he and Benny had to do it now, or it'd be a week before they got to it.
By the time the groceries were put away and dinner was cooked, Benny had been brought up to speed. As it turned out, Dante's day had been a string of minor inconveniences that led to his dramatic homecoming.
Considering the days and weeks they'd had in college while fighting the Andalites over a decade ago? It was all pretty tame. Benny still made sympathetic noises about the stuff that wasn't Dante's fault, like traffic. But there was no universe in which Dante running out of gas because he'd driven on E for the last three days was anything but Dante's own fault.
Fortunately, Kel had been willing to swipe Benny's car to rescue him. It would have been Benny, but Benny's phone was, as it turned out, turned off. He had messages from Ariel and Adrian, too. Whoops.
Still. There were few things that could compare to having a homemade dinner with your favorite people in the world. Dante's day had been bad, but Benny's? Was pretty darned good.