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[Don't you dare smile at him, mister, do not make him doki.

Too late. Hajime's own smile brightens in response, and he sets his bag down on the floor. He'd almost forgotten how much he enjoyed making people smile from the dumb gifts he found.]

I'm glad you like it.

[Please keep smiling, it's a good look.]

So what are you working on now...? Is this another app?

[He's trying to learn, bless him.]

[Unfortunately for the pure bean, the Strider smile is an oft-fleeting thing and it's gone a moment later. Only the suggestion of it reminds, here or there. It's the ghost smile.]

Two. One for pictures, the other for short videos. Instagram and Vines, if you're familiar.

[He has plans for another pet game but that will come later because it operates in a very different way.]

Not really, no...

[Instagram and Vine both became popular sometime after the nebulous year Dangan Ronpa takes place, so they're new to him. He doesn't really give the screens more than a passing glance, though, instead looking back to Dirk. His own smile has faded too, though it's more likely his will reappear than Dirk's.]

Hey, Dirk... how many projects have you worked on in the last few days...?

[Jetskis. Apps. Report Card Mode. Cameras. URSULA's servers. Rin's planner.]

Maybe five or six. I'm getting enough sleep, dude. Don't worry.

['Enough,' here, means that he's functional on the amount of sleep he's getting.]

Right....

[It's pretty obvious from his tone that he doesn't quite buy that. Instead, though, he glances toward the orange rinds and raises an eyebrow.]

How long ago did you last eat something that wasn't oranges?

[He thinks about it. Last family meal was a day ago. So...]

Probably fifteen hours.

[Look. We know he won't die of scurvy. What more do you want?]

Don't worry about it. I lived off of Doritos and orange soda growing up.

...I'm not even going to bother explaining all the ways in which that's wrong. Come on.

[Hajime pushes himself to his feet and scoops up the plate of orange rinds. This can come too.]

Come eat with me?

[It's worded as an order, but the tone implies that it really is a request. As much as he'd like to, he won't force the other boy to do something he doesn't want to do.

He will hold out his hand though as if to help Dirk out of his chair. Come on, dude, don't leave him hanging.]

[Dirk could have fought him. He's working on something. He wants to get it done. He's not hungry. It's fine, he's fine. But Hinata holds his hand out. Dirk has been doing that a lot lately himself and been left with no response.

He doesn't have the heart not to take what's offered.]

Can you do an orange marinade?

[But don't think you're getting out of letting this child have his oranges one way or another. He may have let Hinata pull him to his feet but he is still getting his oranges.]

[Hajime's lips curve into a small, relieved smile when Dirk takes his hand, tugging lightly to pull him to his feet before letting go and starting to head toward the kitchen.]

...Yeah, I actually think I can. I've been trying to read up on cooking techniques, so... I can't promise it'll be the best meal you've ever had, but I do know how to cook fish.

[That's one skill he actually had before arriving here, since, well, Japanese.]

Not like we have too many options, but what do you like? And don't say oranges and Doritos, I know that one already.

[He readily follows Hinata along. His hands are comfortably in his pocket, and his shades firmly in place, but he's definitely not failing to take up Hinata's offer.]

Sand Shark meat is fine.

[It's also probably the freshest things they have. It is always easy to go out and get more Sand Sharks for dinner.]

Okay. Sand Shark with an orange marmalade, and I'll try to grill some vegetables, too.

[Sounds like a tall order for a normal kid. Don't think he's forgotten about those shades and Dirk's ability to work on projects with them, but he's not commenting on them for now. One step at a time.]

I think there should be enough rice on the farm that it'll be okay if we use some from the kitchen... do you know how to cook it?

Edited 2016-08-19 23:45 (UTC)

No idea.

[Houston was not the best place for rice even before it drowned.]

[...It almost feels like a victory, knowing how to do something that Dirk doesn't. And then he feels a little bad about that.]

I can teach you, if you want. I'm used to using a rice cooker, but it's not too hard to cook it in a pot.

[It's a project, and yet, different from what he's done before, if Hajime's reading the situation right. Maybe it'll help, maybe not. But it's something different, something new for the other teen. Hopefully that helps him relax a little.]

Sure. It seems cool. Is it the right strain of rice here for how you like it?

[HE REMEMBERS READiNG ABOUT DIFFERENT KINDS OF RICE? He read a weird comic once about people arguing about what rice should be like. It made no sense to him. Teach him everything, Hinata.]

Mm, it's alright. Short-grain rice is what we usually eat back home... it's sticky, so it's easy to eat with chopsticks. And you use short-grain rice to make mochi, which... you've probably never had either, right?

[By now, he's in the kitchen, moving through the fridge with practiced ease to find the Sand Shark fillets and some of the carrots and broccoli from the farm.]

If we're still here for New Year's... I wonder if it'd be possible to pound mochi.

[Dirk gives Hinata about a foot of space, so he can observe without getting in his way.]

'No' to having had mochi before. I don't know what it is.

[At the very least, Hinata has grabbed all of Dirk's attention and focused it on these interesting lessons in Stuff He Doesn't Know.]

Edited (clARITY) 2016-08-20 00:58 (UTC)

It's a dessert. It's basically rice flour, sugar, and water I think, with different fillings or flavorings.

[Talking about home is nice, but so is keeping Dirk's attention. He passes him the vegetables.]

Could you chop those up for me? --Not with your sword, with a knife.

[Trying... to head that off before the other can flashstep.]

But rice is easy. It's usually around two cups of water to one cup of rice. Put them both in the pot at the same time, set it to boil, then cover it and let it steam for... a couple minutes. If you can set the rice going, it makes it easier to focus on your other food at the same time. Make sense?

[A beat. He was definitely going to use his sword. Good save, Hinata. Dirk instead selects a knife and starts properly chopping the vegetables up, even though it takes 500 years. Weirdo.]

Like testing a section of your program in the background while you work on other areas.

[He thinks?]

[Dirk why are you like this.]

Uh... yeah, like that. It's something you don't have to watch closely, and even if it starts to burn, you'll be able to smell it before anything gets totally ruined. Let's not get to that point, though.

[Since getting more rice isn't as easy as just walking to the convenience store.

But even if he knows he's mostly doing all this to try to help Dirk out, he has to admit, it's calming for him, too. Making something simple with ingredients that are similar enough to those he could find at home makes him a little homesick. Or, well, more homesick than usual.]

...You're not working on a program right now, are you?

[Dude. The shades. While he's finishing up the rice, he can't help but glance toward him and raise an eyebrow.]

[Dirk looks up because he could answer this but he could also respond to a person who is clearly concerned about him by giving them a hard time.]

Shit. Will you ground me?

[He is in fact not programming at all right now. But he is always being awful.]

...

[See, Dirk is so monotone all the time that even for as sarcastic as Hajime can be on his own, he still can't quite tell when Dirk is doing the same.]

Could you not? [Either not be a little shit, or not program. He's not sure which is more likely, here.] I'm... sure you have a reason for wearing your sunglasses all the time, but come on, Dirk. Take a break.

[There's a pause. Then he tugs the glasses off and tucks them into his sylladex.]

Okay.

[Back to choppin' up those veggies.]

Ah-

[Oh. Hajime's admittedly a little surprised that the other gave in so easily. And also that Dirk does have eyeballs under his glasses. Who knew.]

...Thanks. When you're done with the vegetables, could you get some oranges and squeeze the juice into a bowl for me?

No problem.

[Dirk has apparently switched from little shit to docile, since he finishes up with the veggies and moves directly to the juicing project. This one is extra fun because oranges smell amazing.]

[At least Hajime is from a weirdo vidya/anime so orange eyes doesn't even faze him. Instead, he just focuses on getting the fish ready to grill. He's trying to figure out how to bring up what he really wants to ask, but... Dirk seems to be enjoying himself, and he doesn't want to upset him.

Well. Upset him more than he already is trying to repress, Hajime thinks.]

So... what have you done besides projects, the last couple days?

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