What do you do about something like this?
What are you supposed to do?
He turns his head, just the slightest amount, so that he can pretend he's admiring his little sunflower sitting happily next to his laboring stove. He dares not look directly at his intended mark, but he stares straight ahead and forces a smile, minding his peripherals all the while for any signs of movement from them. He feels a frown on the verge of crossing his lips, but he chokes it down and lets a hum out instead to continue his feigned plant fascination. It seems they're doing the same as he, eyes glazed over in a silent study of the other pony currently idling in the same room.
A sharp intake of breath—and words on his tongue—but he closes his mouth and sets his jaw time and time again after small shakes of his head that he inwardly hopes she doesn't see.
What is there to say?
He flexes his chin.
There is nothing, or, at least none that he can think of, so he flicks his sights back to the sizzling pan in front of him, and the tried attempt of over easy eggs spilling their yolks inside its cast iron walls. There's a curse, an obscenity, down there somewhere, but he catches a glimpse of the still ticking clock hanging to his right and deduces that it's probably too early for little bouts of anger. He'd woken up earlier than was his usual today so he could do what he—well—what he was trying to do at the moment, but it seemed that she had somehow caught wind about his planned surprise before he'd even hatched it, and was already up and blinking around the living room as he trotted into the kitchen.
He doesn't mind, really. She can't really argue against his food when it's cooking right in front of her.
Well, she can, but he kind of hopes that she won't. Not because his feelings would be spoiled or anything, because he had to admit that he'd refused his own food plenty of times, but because she seriously needed something. She hadn't spoken a word since he'd opened up his front door on Wednesday, and if she wasn't going to talk, she might as well eat. That was okay with him. He could be honest about that. If she just wanted to crash on his couch and eat his crappy food, he was all for it.
His crappy food calls to him with a loud pop and a spot of scalding oil. He sucks on his teeth when it lands on his neck and burns away at his light amber fur, interrupting the otherwise peaceful quiet of his house's kitchen in his injured wake. The cuss pushes more forcefully than the last time, but he shakes his head and stares at his eggs to stop himself from letting it out. She might not like cuss words. He knows other ponies who are like that, and they give him a knowing glare and a soft frown whenever he lets another one loose in their presence. He wouldn't want that from her.
Even the assured safety of her silence is worrying him.
His eggs pop again.
He scrunches his nose and grabs at the spatula sitting next to the pan. His mind races again, and he can't help but point out he's just trying to distract himself from the pony softly breathing far behind him, but he has to say that this whole thing would be a lot easier if he had been born a Unicorn or something. Even a Pegasus could just use their wings, and he'd seen some around town use theirs like hands to close up their saddlebags or pick at fruit. Stirring breakfast probably wasn't too out of the question, and he'd be able to not screw these things up for once. He couldn't even flip the... darn things over. The backup plan, sitting in his fridge wrapped in plastic, always waited for him, but not a day went by when he considered it. Maybe today was its lucky day. It sure was his.
He turns his head again, craning his neck in the process, and looks at the mare before glancing back to his pan and smacking his lips.
"I, uh," he clears his throat with a foreleg pressed into his muzzle, "I kinda screwed up your breakfast." Cerulean eyes flicker to the egg murder scene crackling around his pan, and he debates making her another batch, but the fact remains: he's out of eggs. The carton lies in the open garbage can next to him, lined with overturned shells that didn't make the cut when put to the cooking test. Those same eyes dart to the floor and remain there, fixated on a little bit of dust he must've missed when he was cleaning just the other day. Everyone likes eggs, don't they? Eggs are good. They're fine.
He taps his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
His are fine, too. Kind of.
He takes one final look at them and half-heartedly agrees that they don't look as bad as they could, then twists around and grabs a plate from the pile next to his sink. Shoveling the egg onto it—and frowning at the pool of straight yellow already leaking out from underneath where it fell—he sucks in a large breath and bites down on the end of the plate. Turning about, he fixes his gaze on his immediate right and hums at the dark clouds plaguing the sky outside the safety of his house as he walks toward his wooden table sat up against the opposite wall of his appliances, minding his step all the way.
Stopping at the edge of the old oak, he lowers his head and releases his grasp on the plate, then nudges it forward with his nose.
He still isn't looking.
"I'm sorry. But you should eat." He realizes what he could be doing right now, and despite his head telling him off, he looks behind him and fishes, "There's some bread in the fridge if you want me to toast a piece for you. Yeah?"
With a smile on his lips, he slowly fans around, finally taking notice of the presence of another next to him.
Her mane is bedraggled.
She barely even seems like she's there in the first place.
She gives him a look with those eyes of hers, but remains quiet, and tugs needily on the heavy blanket wrapped like a cocoon around her body.
He makes a motion to help her, but she fumbles around in an instant and quickly does what she was prior finding difficulty in doing.
His eyes glaze over, and hers do too.
He's still standing in front of her on the opposite side of the table, so he realizes his own presence and turns to leave the kitchen.
There's a hope that he hears a fork scraping as he goes away, that she's taking care of herself this morning.
A hope.
The house remains still, but she's still here.