Title: Stirring
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: General
Length: 800ish words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Modern day/mundane AU - marriage of convenience. Clef/Umi (pre-relationship-ish). Snippet of domestic fluff?
Summary: "Are you boiling a peach?" he asked, confused.

oOo

Clef came home partway through Saturday morning, not long after they'd moved into their new home, and got distracted partway through calling out "I'm home" by the smell wafting through the house. He kicked off his shoes and abandoned them, stepping up into the main room, and heading straight for where Umi was stood in the kitchen.

"Welcome home," she called back, not looking away from the large metal pot she had on the burner. Three large peaches on the counter beside her explained the fruity smell wafting through the room.

"Are you boiling a peach?" he asked, confused, setting his bag down by the sofa on his way past.

"Yes," Umi said, not turning around.

"…Why?"

"Makes it easier to get the skin off," she muttered, and prodded the unseen peach in the pot once more before getting a pair of tongs from the sideboard and lifting it out, setting it down into the sink.

Clef came around and peered down, to see the large bowl of ice water that had been waiting for it. "Huh," he said, nonplussed. "You don't like peaches, though?"

"No, but I need some peach jam for the cake I'm making for Hikaru's party-thing tomorrow," Umi said, rolling her eyes. "If you're going to be hovering, go wash your hands so you can help, won't you?"

"Will there be enough I can have some?" he bartered, not moving.

Umi dipped her fingertips in the icy water and flicked them at him, but her lips were twitching. "Possibly, but only if you help."

He obediently went to wash hands, and got rid of his jacket as well, and when he came back Umi put him to work peeling the skin off the soft golden fruit and cutting it into chunks, working next to her as she scored the last couple of peaches before blanching them. Once all the peaches were skinned and cut up, they went into a pot with a heap of sugar and a small amount of cinnamon. Umi added some lemon juice and then she left him to stir it after he couldn't stop leaning in to smell the pot. It smelled delicious.

"How long do I have to keep stirring this?" he asked, after probably ten minutes.

Umi grinned from the other side of the sink. "Until it's done," she said, cheerfully. But she was getting several glass pots ready, and soon came back to check on it, leaning over his arm to peer into the pot. "That's getting close."

"Good," he said, and she laughed, patted him on the shoulder, and handed him another, flatter spoon.

"If you could… remove the foam?" She demonstrated, skimming some of the foam off the top of the liquid and tapping it off onto a plate set ready at the side. Once he'd successfully copied the action, she left him to it again. But she didn't move away so much as turn around, and start moving stuff around on the island counter behind him.

The kitchen was a pretty narrow sliver of room, and the island wasn't large (though it doubled the amount of workspace); the last time they'd both been in here at once, they'd circled the entire island when they needed to get around each other. But today Umi just lay a hand on his shoulder so he knew she was there, and slid past him to the fridge and back.

It should have been monotonous, stood stirring one pot and staring at the wall. It wasn't. Umi's presence and occasional comments and the smell of the cooking jam combined to make him feel relaxed. At home, even.

He'd made jam once before, a very long time ago, and that had been a complicated process which involved straining things through muslin - blackberries had so many seeds. This was a lot simpler; By the time he thought it might be thickening properly, Umi had a set of glass containers out, and took over for him to pour the sticky fruit-filled liquid into them while he inspected what she'd been doing while he stirred.

Instead of the cake he'd expected, there was a tray ready to go in pre-heating oven, covered with - "Umi, are those scones?" he asked, glancing back at her.

Umi didn't look at him, but her shoulders hunched a little. "Well, if you're going to demand jam as payment, you'll need something to eat with it," she said, and it was a good thing she was holding a large and very hot pot at that moment, because Clef wanted very much to wrap his arms about her. His chest was buoyant with a happiness he couldn't classify, didn't want to.

"Thank you," he said, instead, and set himself to making them lunch before he could embarrass both of them by saying anything more.

oOo

The scones were done baking by the time they'd eaten, and the jam was still warm, and amazing.

Flinging himself halfway around the world to marry someone he didn't know might have been the best decision he'd ever made.

oOo



end note because I did RESEARCH for jam of all things: I don't know if there's any added pectin in this but I checked a couple of Japanese quick peach jam recipes and this (or without the cinnamon) seemed pretty common? And my language skills aren't up to working out if they have jamming sugar with pectin added XD but it's not meant to be stored for long, so it's not being canned either. And it's not like Clef would actually know that anyway...

I spent too long researching peach jam this evening. I don't think I've ever even knowingly eaten it?