Haejangguk

Jean-Claude groaned softly, rubbing at his head as he stared down at the pan in front of him.

God, last night was haunting his ass with a vengeance.

He didn't remember much after Khaliq dragging him out of the club and into the next after a few rounds.

He promised himself he was never going out drinking with Khaliq again as long as he lived as he ladled a large portion of the haejangguk in the pan into a bowl.

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Haejangguk - it's a hangover cure from Korea. It usually consists of thinly sliced meat, noodles, spring onions and coagulated blood

Zeke padded into mansion kitchen, he would fetch his own food today, after what happened the previous day Moe was having a rest and he did not want to disturb her now that she had finally fallen to sleep.

He glanced over at the fledgling as he entered the room, he remembered this one, Jean, the one he had threatened a while back.

Zeke shook his head, still eating human food after all this time, today he didn't care, this man was none of his concern.

Instead he just went to the pantry and fetch himself some cereal, he wasn't in the mood to cook at all.

Jean-Claude's eyes flickered up as he was sipping at the soup on his bowl.

He choked when he caught sight of the man padding towards the pantry, setting his bowl down and rubbing at his chest as he coughed and spluttered.

He hated surprises when he was drinking.

And what a surprise. This was the man that had threatened him last time he caught him cooking. He hoped the man didn't give him any grief today. He couldn't handle it at the moment.

His eyes flickered up again and he watched Zeke warily.

"Calm down Jean, I'm not going to hurt you."

He muttered softly without turning to look at the man, he was too busy grabbing a bowl and filling it to the brim with cereal and milk, before grabbing a spoon and sitting at the far end of the table.

He didn't need to look at the man to know he was intimidated by him, the sound of the vampire nearly choking on his meal was indication enough.

The vampire swallowed thickly and nodded.

He reached for his bowl again, bringing it up to his lips and taking another sip of the hot soup, eyes still fixed on Zeke.

Jean-Claude forked a piece of pork into his mouth and chewed it slowly. The meat churned in his stomach after he swallowed, but it settled pretty quickly. He wouldn't be able to live without the comforts of food.

He twirled the fork in his bowl, watching the noodles catch on the metal and chase it around inside the bowl before he lifted them to his mouth.

"I hope coven life if working well for you, you look healthy enough, despite the obvious hang over."

Moe had humbled Zeke a lot since they met, she quelled his anger just by being close and he found himself a changed man.

At his core Zeke was still the same man he had always been, just calmer and more compassionate.

Jean-Claude nodded. Yes, coven life was treating him fairly well. Nothing too horrendous had happened yet.

A grin curled his lips as he lifted a hand to ruffle his messy hair. "Is it that obvious?"

He swallowed another mouthful of noodles then sighed. "I swear, next time Khaliq wants to take me out like that, he can go screw himself. I'm never doing that again."

He didn't remember half the evening but he was sure nothing good had come from it with Khaliq around.

Zeke chuckled softly.

"Obvious? You look like your are about ready to either throw up into the bowl or pass out into it.

You should drink more water, the faster you hydrate the better you'll feel."

He turned his gaze back down to his bowl, spooning the cereal into his mouth eagerly, he was starving.

It had been a long night for the both of them by the looks of it.

"I better not throw up, I can't afford to throw up food, too."

Food was all that was keeping him up and running. If his body started to reject that, too, he was going to throw in the towel.

"I bet you've had a few more years of practise than I have at finding the best hangover cures, ne?"

He set the bowl down and busied himself fixing up a large glass of water, sipping at it slowly a she leaned back against the counter.

"About five hundred and twenty more years than you."
He replied, filling his mouth with food again.

People these days didn't know what drinking was, alcohol was watered down and weak now.

"Eat anything that absorbs liquid, it will help settle your stomach by taking in the last of the alcohol, bread, rice, anything like that help."

Jean-Claude gave a soft chuckle.

"Old man." The Fledgeling felt so damned young compared to everyone else in the coven.

Everyone was hundreds of years older than him. He felt so out of place being around all these people with so many years behind their belt.

After draining half of his glass, he picked up his bowl again. His eyes settled on the pan of soup and he gave a sigh. All that food was just going to go to waste. The vampire kept forgetting that he wasn't back in Korea and there weren't three or four guys passed out in his living room to feed the hangover cure to before tossing them out to find their way home.

"Oh don't you start that shit too, getting called old by my wife and sister is enough as it is without everyone else joining in."

Despite is words Zeke's tone stayed playful and joking, he had made a bad first impression on the young vampire and he hoped that he did not resent him too much.

For the sake of his unborn children he endeavored to try and get along with as many people in the coven as possible.

Jean-Claude laughed a little. "Well, if there's more than just me saying it, it has to be true."

The vampire was a little shocked that Zeke was married. From his first impression and the way the man looked and acted, he was surprised that he was married.

He was assuming things and going by stereotypes, but he was truly shocked.

His wife must be a strong woman to deal with him and the fowl mood he had experienced.

"Perhaps it has some merit, but there are plenty of people much much older than I am here, Alek and Gia make me look like a puppy."

He chuckled softly in amusement, when ever he felt old he'd just go and hang out with Aodh, that always made him feel young again.

Zeke sighed softly.
"Jean I should apologize for my behavior towards you when we first met, it was completely uncalled for, sorry, seems you were unlucky enough to catch me on a really bad day."

He gave a little nod in response to the man's statement.

Who were Alek and Gia?

The vampire gave a little flutter of his hand. "It's..." He gave a half shrug and an upwards quirk of his lips. He wanted to say it was fine, but it wasn't to him. It had shaken him a lot.

He was sure that others would find that pathetic, but he had only known about the supernatural a few short weeks when it had happened.

Jean-Claude was hardened against human behaviours; lust and greed. But he was new to the supernatural and it scared him a lot. He was like a lost child with all this and the man tearing him a new one because he had been cooking food had scared him shitless.

Zeke didn't need to hear the rest of the sentense to know what te fledgling was going to say.

"No it's not fine, I was way out of line, I'm nearly twenty times your age, I should know better and have more control over myself.
I'm not going to try and blame it on being a lycan, yes my species gives me a temper but that's not good enough to try and justify what I did to you."

This boy had enough to deal with becoming a vampire without him attacking him like that, he wouldn't be surprise if he was terrified of all lycan's now.

Did this boy even know his name?

"Jean..."
He only knew the boys name from his sire calling him, and in an act that Zeke had never preformed before, the large lycan got up from his chair and knelt down on the floor, bowing his head and placing his hand over his heart.

"Please forgive me."
When he was changed he would have given the world for one shread of kindness, now it was his turn to be the compassionate one instead of a monster.

He listened to what the man was saying silently, eyes flickering from him to the wall.

He was happy that someone had finally apologised for being a dick to him. He was shocked that it was the Wolf, though. He had sort of assumed that Lycan were prideful beings that didn't like to apologise for anything they did.

Jean-Claude's lip twitched a little when Zeke knelt down in front of him.

He had to remind himself not to laugh. This was probably a normal way to apologise for a great offence in Zeke's time, even if it looked completely ridiculous and out of place in this time.

His tongue darted out over his lower lip.

"Jean-Claude," he corrected after a few long moments. He didn't really like people calling him Jean. Never had.

His blue eyes turned down to Zeke and stared at him for a minute.

"Look..." He racked his brain to find the man's name but came up with a blank. "I'm not some old time princess that you need to sweep off their feet with an extravagant apology. I'm a stripper that works down in Catania three nights a week."

His lips curled upwards into a little grin. "Thanks for the apology, but can you get up now? You look like you're about to pull out a ring and ask me for my hand. What would your wife say if she saw that?"

Zeke smirked softly nodded.
"Jean-Claude." He corrected himself.

"My name is Zeke."
He introduced himself as he pulled himself onto his feet, he knew the old ways of apologizing were dead but it still felt like the right thing to do regardless.

The lycan chuckled and shook his head.
"Moe wouldn't say a word, she'd have me gutted in an instant and would be using my pelt as a throw rug."

There was no chance in hell of him ever leaving Moe, not for a moment.
Even if he did make a fool of himself right now, he hoped he could make it up to the vampire for how he had acted.

"It's a pleasure to meet you the second time 'round, Zeke." First time wasn't really the best meeting.

Ah, so he was right. His wife - Moe - was a strong woman if Zeke spoke of her like that.

"Well, if she finds out, I'll stop by her room and see what a beautiful rug you turn out to be." He grinned a little, crossing his arms over his chest a she leaned back against the counter again.

"I hope I've done a better job of it the second time around, I was an asshole when I first got here, slavery does that to you, but Moe put me in line pretty quickly."

He chuckle softly and nodded.
"Moe and I live out in the cottage near the forest not in the mansion itself, I'm sure she would have it on display for all to see."

Zeke moved and sat back down in his chair, scratching the back of his head with a small grin, at least the man was able to joke around him now, it wad a start.

"Second time around is definitely better. I'm not pinned to the floor pissing myself at the moment so that's a start."

He grinned at the man and hoisted himself up to sit on the counter, picking up his bowl again.

"Don't suppose you wanna help out with this?" He cocked his head to the pan. "I need to stop cooking for five. I keep forgetting I'm not in my apartment in Korea any more. I don't have four hungover men sprawled out begging for me to feed them any more."

The vampire chuckled softly and sipped the soup again.

"Yeah, I'm not good at first impressions, first time I met Moe I was snarling at her."
He chuckled as he recalled how he met everyone close to him, it all either started with him snarling at them or fighting them.

"Jean-Claude you definitely haven't had much interaction with lycans. Rule one, Lycans think with their stomachs, we never turn down food."

He grinned over at him and looked at the stove eagerly, jumping out of his chair and padding over to get a better look, sniffing at the pan.

"I can eat all of that."
He replied, looking down at the left over four servings.

The Fledgeling laughed. "If you ended up marrying her after snarling at her, what does nearly tearing my throat mean? You're not gonna whisk me off to have your way with me are you? I'm not sure either of our other halves will be pleased with that."

Jean-Claude grinned. "Oh yeah? I'll have to remember that when I want something from you."

He wasn't above bribing people with food if he needed something.

"Have at it, then. Don't want it to go to waste." He hated cooking for nothing. But he still hadn't managed to get out of cooking for a group rather than just himself.

"No such luck I'm afraid, if I had my way with everyone's who's throat I nearly tore out I'd currently be in my bed dying of exhaustion."

Zeke chuckled and nodded, grabbing a bowl and filling it up before sitting down and eating.

"The sad thing is, that would probably work, rock up with food and I am putty in your hands."

He could not count the amount of times Moe has used food against him and Aodh to get her own way.

"This is really good."
He murmured happily as he stuffed his face.

Jean-Claude snorted. "Drawn to peoples throats then, ne?"

He laughed and emptied the last of his bowl, setting it down on the counter and leaning back.

"Not a good housewife, but I can cook." He ran his tongue over his lower lip. "It's called Haejangguk. Its pretty popular in some parts of Korea but the blood in it puts some people off."

He couldn't bring himself to replace the pig blood in it, though. It'd probably make it harder for him to stomach if he switched it out for human blood.