Honey and Sugar

This was a development Charlie would never have expected. She was on her way to her sister's ex's house to bake cookies. Charlie wondered how it all came to this. Naturally she was glad to have someone close to her that shared Charlie's love for reading, but for it to be Eein specifically felt strange. Today too Charlie had lied to Jazz about where she was going, she wanted to avoid any awkwardness between the two of them.

Charlie sighed, swinging the bag she was carrying a bit. She still didn't dare call Eein a friend, since he might've only gotten close to Charlie because she was Jazz's little sister, and Charlie didn't want to be disappointed. His love towards baking and books had seemed genuine, and he knew enough about both for it to be unlikely that he was pretending. But still...Charlie was scared. She had a feeling that if she let herself get too close to Eein more unexpected things would happen. Even now Charlie got butterflies in her stomach while thinking about baking with him, that couldn't be a good sign.

It didn't take long for Charlie to reach her destination, and she looked at the large house in front of her. It was about the same size as her family home.
So here is where Jazz and Eein spent time together, doing things that couples do...
Charlie blushed, what was she thinking? She shouldn't think about those sorts of things, especially about her own sister. Charlie sighed again, straightened her clothes and hair a bit and walked to the door. Soon after she knocked Charlie was greeted with smiling Eein, and she got some butterflies in her stomach.
Oh dear...

"H-hello."
Charlie said with a small smile, and hesitantly stepped inside when Eein stepped aside. Charlie tried not to be too close to Eein and she took her shoes off.
"Y-you d-did? We-weren't we su-supposed to e-each b-bring our o-own sh-share?"
Charlie asked unsurely, thinking she had misunderstood. Charlie had brought some eggs and whole milk and vanilla extract, as was stated in the recipe they were going to use this time.

Charlie let out a small sigh of relief, when Eein explained what he meant. Charlie would've been ashamed and embarrassed if Eein would've had to provide all the ingredients. Especially when she had struggled to find some vanilla extract, Charlie wouldn't have wanted Eein to go through the same ordeal
"O-okay, th-thank you."
Charlie stepped out of the foyer and into the house, glancing at her surroundings but trying not to stare. It was an overall neat house with nice decor, Charlie's house was usually a bit of a mess and the decor was also mixed. Charlie liked this kind of atmosphere, she liked when things were neat and orderly. The kitchen was that way too, and Charlie looked impressed and a bit happy when she saw everything was all ready, waiting for bakers.
"Y-you d-did all th-this? I'm s-sorry I co-couldn't h-help."
Charlie said, looking at Eein with slightly guilty expression, he had had to prepare everything on his own.

"A-alright."
Charlie said when Eein mentioned his family being out among other things, and she blushed a bit. So they were all alone in this large house. Charlie felt even more nervous than before, and some butterflies appeared in her stomach. She was being stupid again, this wasn't the first time they had been alone, how did this time differ from all the others?
Charlie was snapped out of her thoughts, when she saw Eein scratch himself. She saw the band aids on him, and blinked a bit. What could've happened?

Charlie went and set her bag on the counter as well, taking out her share of the ingredients. The honey had a very nice scent, and Charlie was drawn to the jar like the bear she was. Charlie looked at it, and was surprised to see a part of a honeycomb still floating in the honey. Charlie looked at Eein as he presented his question, and Charlie looked down at the band aids on him.
"Um, a-are you a-alright? Wh-what h-happened to y-you?"

"It is ni-nice w-when e-everything runs smo-smoothly."
Charlie said with a small smile and a nod, feeling thankful that Eein had thought of that. Well, there were probably going to be some accidents today, when Charlie baked something seemed to always go wrong.
"I w-want to a-apologize in ad-advance if I c-cause any ac-accidents. I'm a b-bit pr-prone to th-that..."
Charlie said and looked and Eein apologetically, he deserved to know what was possibly coming.

Bee stings? Charlie looked confused for a moment, but it didn't take long for her to catch up on why Eein had those stings. Since it seemed like the honey was rather fresh. Yet again Charlie felt impressed and touched but also bit guilty, Eein had gotten fresh honey just for this and gotten stung. Would he have gone through so much trouble if he had been baking alone?
But the smile he flashed at Charlie made her look away shyly, and she nearly blushed. But more than that she was worried over Eein stings. Dragon or not those stings looked irritated.

"Y-you co-could ap-apply some ho-honey on them. It's a go-good re-remedy for b-bee st-stings."
Charlie suggested, and resisted the urge to just go and dab some honey on the stings. Eein wasn't a family member so Charlie couldn't just help him as she pleased. And Charlie wouldn't have had the courage to touch Eein's hand in the first place.
"Ma-maybe th-they are so pro-protective of it be-because it is th-their o-only we-weakness."
Charlie tried joking back, but her voice sounded more like she was saying a fact. Charlie wasn't that good at joking. But she did smile, not too widely though, that probably wouldn't be proper.

"W-well, um, w-we o-only ha-have one re-recipe to fo-follow, so...be-better st-start with th-that."
Charlie said a bit awkwardly to Eein question, taking out her phone. She had the recipe downloaded on it, and she stepped a bit closer to Eein so he could see it too. But she held out her phone, since Charlie didn't want to get too close to Eein, she would definitely blush if she did.

Eein had a very carefree way of looking at accidents, Charlie couldn't even begin to think of them as fun. For her they were just stress inducing and she panicked easily, making things even worse. Charlie was counting on Eein to try and keep her calm, although she would never say that. And of course Charlie would try to avoid making mistakes in the first place.

"Of co-course you d-did, I sh-should've gue-guessed. Y-you pro-probably kn-know mo-more ab-about th-these k-kinds of th-things t-than me."
Charlie said, rambling a bit while looking away, feeling ashamed that she had assumed Eein didn't know about such a commonly known remedy. He always smelled like nature so he must've known a lot more things than Charlie. And he didn't comment anything on Charlie's joke so it must've been bad. Charlie wanted to curl up on the floor but that wouldn't have been proper at all. She had to stay focused and not despair, she could do that later.
"We sh-should ho-honour the b-bees' h-hard wo-work and m-make so-something yu-yummy."

Charlie couldn't help but blush ever so slightly when Eein leaned closer, even if she was making sure she wasn't too close. It was strange, Charlie felt strange. But she also didn't have time to analyze what she was feeling because Eein seemed all ready to bake.
"M-maybe you sh-should t-take the le-lead f-for now. Si-since you a-are the mo-more sk-skilled o-one."
Charlie suggested, she didn't want any accidents happening right off the bat, and she was better at following instructions than giving them anyway.

The fact that bees were in a way like dragons had passed Charlie's mind as well, but she hadn't voiced it since it was rude and generalized dragon behaviour. Even if the dragons in stories had a habit of hoarding that didn't mean all dragons in real life did. Well, just dragons actually existing was still something Charlie was getting used to, and Eein and his family were almost always in human form so it didn't feel real that he was a dragon. Then again it probably would be hard to believe Charlie was a bear, she didn't seem like it at all.

"Is it re-really o-okay?"
Charlie asked uncertainly when Eein said she could taste the honey, and she looked at the jar and the spoon. Charlie was very tempted, and it probably showed on her face. Charlie really loved sweet things. She approached, took the spoon and dipped it in the honey. She didn't take much. Charlie tasted, and her face lit up. Fresh honey tasted so good, and she let out a small sound of pleasure at the sweetness. But upon realizing she had lost herself Charlie blushed, put the spoon down and looked over at Eein with a flustered expression.
"I-it's, um, ve-very g-good."
Charlie said, and smiled slightly.

Even though Eein said she could help herself to anything Charlie made sure not to touch anything that looked like it could break, and when Eein began working with the eggs Charlie decided to start mixing the dry ingredients together.
"Huh? O-oh, um, w-well, the-they're good. I li-like t-them."
Charlie said, relaxing a bit since the topic was about something she greatly enjoyed. As she continued speaking Charlie's tone became more excited and confident, and she stuttered less.
"T-the fa-fantasy book has a g-good flow to it a-and the st-story doesn't drag at the st-start but is still in-interesting. In the fi-first ch-chapter there's th-this big-"
Charlie had used her hands to empathize her point as she spoke, while measuring the ingredients. So when she spread her arms while measuring flour when she said "big" the flour flew, part of it on Eein. Charlie stopped immediately and gasped, putting the measuring cup down. Charlie stepped closer, her expression concerned and guilty.
"I-I'm s-so so-sorry, I g-got fl-flour a-all o-over you. I-I'm so cl-clumsy...I-is th-there a to-towel, or a na-napkin...?"
As Charlie spoke she dusted flour off of Eein, being too preoccupied with her mistake to blush, and she looked around, looking for something to clean Eein's clothes with.