Warnings: Might contain mentions of Child Abuse (hopefully nothing too graphic), Minor Character Death, Suicide, lots of cooking, AU-ish and canon content and inappropriate relationships. [I'm not taking any chances this year]

Relationships: Gil/Oz (main), Gil/Break (past), Jack/Lacie (past), onesided Elliot/Alice and Ada/Wilhelm (from CrimsonShell). Might add later, if I actually remember them. Also bonding, lots of bonding.

Summary: Despite his status as a chef prodigy, Oz Vessalius knows he needs all the help he can get to win the Sablier Annual Contest. And if it means asking former champion "Raven" for help, then so be it.

Comments: So, this story has been on my drive since... somewhere in September? Mid-August? I read "Golden Snow" (from the first Caucus Race) and how the cooks complimented Oz's cooking and I went "well, what better than a Master Chef-like AU to test the waters?" because I like the image of Oz cooking as a hobby so much. I've put a lot of planning into this, really. I have half of the plot just written down, and the other half somewhat sketched.

If you have any doubts about the story, or if I wasn't clear with the warnings, then you can ask away! I don't bite! (Also, have a happy new year!)

The way to a man's heart

Prologue | There was a rusty kitchen for him to use

Once he was sure every noise was dampened, he mustered enough courage to exit his room and walk through the house.

The front door had been closed, which could only mean that his father had gone to work, and he had the house to himself.

He looked at the calendar posted in the kitchen. There were only three days left for Ada to come back home from her boarding school. It's ok, he could keep up with three more days.

He opened the fridge, and there was only half a gallon of milk, three eggs, and questionable cheese. He vaguely remembers seeing a recipe in one of the books from their personal library talking about an omelet.

Maybe he could do one of those.

He smiled a little and put himself into practice.

"Vessalius!"

His eyes opened almost immediately. His breathing was erratic, and he had a very vague idea of where he was at that very moment.

The whole class was watching him. He frowned, why was he at a school?

"Mr. Vessalius, need I remind you that this is not a resting room?" Mrs. Kate, the homeroom teacher, said in a nasal tone.

Oz's eyes widened, suddenly remembering he was at Lutwidge Academy, and he felt his face growing hot.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Kate," he answered truthfully, bowing a little in the process. "I swear it won't happen again." It wasn't like him to sleep in classes, after all.

The woman arched an eyebrow, but relented in the end and continued on her science lecture.

"Among Mr. Flemming's several discoveries, albeit accidental, there was the use of penicillin as an antibiotic. He didn't continue experimenting on it after 1938, but the growing death rate from World War II in 1941 led Dr. Howard Florey and a selected group of scientists to…"

Despite his profound love for school, science wasn't a particular favorite of his. Neither was history (but if they were to tell it like Holy Knight was written, then maybe he could fall for it…) and combining those two subjects was a trial on his retention ability.

"Oz! Psst!" Sharon whispered beside him. The blonde arched an eyebrow, but then noticed the paper piece folded between Sharon's fingers, and took it.

Do you have any plans for today? It said. Mom wanted to take me to the cinema and asked if you wanted to join us?

Oz pondered about it for a bit. He glanced at Mrs. Kate to make sure she wasn't looking at them and then started to write in the piece of paper.

I'll call Uncle Oscar to ask him if he's got any problem with me going out. Although, knowing him, he'd say yes (especially if he was going with Sharon-chan).

Peachy, and they left it at that, given the off chance that Mrs. Kate might find out they weren't actually paying attention to her class.

"I think he was an ok villain."

Oz snorted. "Sure, if you think Yeah, tell Jimmy he's got twenty minutes before the venom quicks in is an ok dialogue, then he is."

Sharon sipped from her soda, looking at him incredulously. "But how he fooled them for most parts of the movie was truly genius from him."

"Anyone that had at least one brain cell would've figured him out, it's not like he wasn't shady from the start." He took one last popcorn before throwing them into the big trash can that was outside the room.

His friend looked outright murderous at him. "Oh was he, would you tell if you saw him in real life?"

"Yes," he answered, and the tone it was delivered with told Sharon it wasn't something he wanted to discuss. "When someone says they love their kids very much but doesn't so much as question their health when their house is burned to ashes, with them probably inside," he shrugged. "you gotta question what another kind of things they 'love very much' as well."

Shelly came running at them, apparently, she had gone to the bathroom. "Sorry to leave without a warning…" she noticed they had their things with them, and then at their apparent fight (or rather, Sharon's remorseful countenance), so she backtracked a step. "Did it already finish?"

"Yep," Oz sounded nonchalant, almost like the mock-fight (because he wasn't mad at Sharon, the villain just rubbed wrongly on him) never happened. "Turns out the villain was the rich guy who was helping Dianne."

Shelly looked surprised. "Oh, Andrew? He looked so nice…" and very disappointed it turned out to be him, too.

"Yes, a shocker," Oz checked his phone and turned at them. "Oh, by the way, uncle Oscar said today I was supposed to cook dinner. And I was told soon was going to be Sharon's birthday, so perhaps you might want to dine with us?"

Sharon seemed ecstatic at the opportunity of eating his food. "Oh, it's been years since I've eaten anything you made, how to say no?"

Her mother merely shrugged. "Well, we don't have anything to do, so sure. Lead the way."

"Oh, and Oz, have you given any thought about the Sablier Annual Contest?"

Oz chopped potatoes with expertise, then dropped them into the boiling water. He looked at his friend, then at his uncle, unsure of who asked him.

"Ehm… well, you know, the seniors told us we better get going this year, lots of homework and we have to start preparing for university…" he started to ramble, something that both Sharon and Oscar noticed. They looked at each other but ended shaking their heads.

Neither of the three pressured further for his answer. Oscar said he needed to smoke a cigarette before dinner.

. .

The story behind the creation of penicillin is truly interesting. Y'all should read "The Mould in Dr. Florey's Coat", it's a very good book. Although the pursuit of creating it was in a very difficult time for science, and it's sad how none of the credit goes to Howard Florey or any of the scientists who helped develop the penicillin into a usable medicine, it's very interesting. Go check it out.