Author's note: Post-MGS4. Wow, this game was epic! A thousand salutes to Hideo Kojima and his gang.

Home Cooking

Two minutes and 18 seconds. Oh, just a teeny bit longer and her special breakfast would be done. Sunny stared at the raw orangey yolk eyes which stared back at her from the heating frying pan. Soon the eggs would sizzle and she could give her gift to someone special. She had just the right person in mind.

Sunny slid the glass lid over the pan, then reached for the chipper sunshine yellow duck timer perched on the stove shelf. She twisted the timer on and put down the duck on the counter. She hopped off the makeshift height box and ran over to the top of the Nomad's metal-railed stairs. "They're almost done. Is he there yet?" she called down to Otacon.

There was no response. Puzzled, Sunny stepped down the metallic stairs enough to spot the person she wanted to talk to. Her curious eyes riveted to the workstation said man was known to inhabit. Otacon was there, his back towards her, fervently typing away something with much vigor and concentration.

So deep in his work, he didn't notice Sunny descend the rest of the stairs and walk over next to him. It was her tug on his shirt hem that finally broke him out of his orchestration of the keyboard. Otacon started abruptly and gazed down at her. "Whoa, sorry, Sunny. I didn't see you there."

"What are you doing?" Gibberish code was scrolling across the computer screen. Layers on layers of mult-tasking windows filled the desktop.

Otacon grinned sheepishly. "Tweaking the Mk. IV. I wanted to add a few things to it." After he had generously given away his Mk. III to Sunny's first outside friend, Otacon couldn't resist creating another mechanical helper. The mechanical maestro would never cease inside him, and he wasn't going to dominate the world with the thing. He'd just dominate his workspace, Otacon reasoned to Sunny.

Impatiently, Sunny raised her eyebrows questioningly at the open hatch at the far end of the Nomad. Today was a stocking day and everyone invited on the plane was currently off it, outside. Save for Otacon. Jack and John had agreed to drop by today, to her excitement. Snake also planned to come.

"Is he here?" Sunny squinted at the haze of sun flooding the entrance.

"Who?" Otacon responded musically. He knew exactly who she meant and Sunny knew it.

She still had to tell him to make sure he understood. "Jack!"

This was a welcoming visit for Jack. His previous visit wasn't filled with fun with his constant pain from dialysis. She wanted to make today special.

"Don't you mean John?" He moved his hovering hands above the keyboard onto his lap and turned his chair to the little girl, a quirky smirk passing his lips. He was teasing her.

Sunny shook her head, feeling warm. She didn't understand why he was making fun of her. John was someone she liked to hang out with. They always had fun when they played, even if she didn't really understand why he did things which she didn't do, like make weird noises or yell completely random things that made no sense. "I-I-I don't know what you mean."

"He's a nice guy. John."

"Uh huh." Sunny craned her head to see better outside. The bright clouds was a glare. She made out Snake watching the sky, simply gazing at its blue vastness, his sandy hair catching the occasional draft of wind. His Sneaking Suit was traded in for a nice shirt and pants. Seeing him wear civilian clothing for days on end took accustoming to. He was, much to Sunny's approval, not smoking for the third day in a row. He might relapse tomorrow, but Sunny was still pleased with him for stopping. Jack and John were nowhere to be seen in her line of vision.

"Well, they're all here. Why don't you find them?" Otacon suggested, voicing her wish.

She couldn't let the eggs burn. "I gotta watch the eggs!" Sunny raced back up to the kitchen when the timer quacked. She promptly turned off the heat, then grabbed the lid handle and lifted it. A puff of smoky steam rushed upwards. Sunny grabbed the spatula from the counter and carefully pried the large face she made, being extra careful to leave her extra decoration at the top of it intact.

Otacon trooped up the stairs as the fried egg slid onto the plate she had setup next to the stove. Sunny beamed at her work of art. So pleased with her work, she let the timer keep up its call longer. Otacon reached over and tapped the timer off for her. Sunny thanked him.

"Say, that's a good breakfast," Otacon complimented above her head, rubbing his chin in approval. Two yolks formed the eyes while the rest of the "face" was, well, looking like a face thanks to another ingredient of plentiful supply onboard.

"Of course! I thought of who I wanted to make it for," Sunny responded knowingly. She would remember the lady who gave her such helpful advice. She was gone, but Sunny would never forget her kindness.

A touch of confusion passed Otacon's features. He tapped his frames into place on the bridge of his nose. "That's a very good way to think when making something to eat. Did you come up with that yourself?"

"Naomi told me," Sunny blurted happily. Naomi always smiled at her when they discussed cooking.

Otacon's face jolted a bit at the name and his gaze wandered off to a spot far behind the girl.

When he spoke no words for an awfully long time, Sunny asked tentatively, "A-are you ok?"

"Yeah," Otacon answered too quickly, even before he looked back into her eyes. When their eyes met, he took in a deep breath and added more deliberately, "Yes. I was surprised. I, uh, I'm happy Naomi taught you something. Raiden- I mean, Jack will like your eggs."

Sunny hoped so. This would be his first breakfast he ate of hers. Before, when he was aboard the plane during Snake's mission, he wasn't able to drink anything, let alone eat. Hooked up constantly to a machine and lying down, Jack didn't do anything else except sleep.

Sunny fidgeted with her hands. She felt kind of funny. "U-um, Otacon? Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Well, it's kind of different from the programming questions."

"Oh?" The technically imbued man looked intrigued.

Sunny glanced at the framed photo of her mother on the wall, then back at Otacon's smiling face. "How do you know someone is your friend?"

A soft expression passed Otacon's face as he mused. "Well, there are lots of ways. One my favorites is when you like spending time with them."

Well, that was easy to tell, Sunny mentally checkmarked from her checklist. "How do you know if someone is a really good friend?"

Now Otacon seemed to dawdle. Maybe it was harder to tell than she first thought.

He did speak. "I find if I can be myself when I'm around them and they're fine with that, then it's a start." Otacon crouched down to eye-level. "Thinking of someone specific?"

Sunny blushed. She wanted to find out for herself how friends were like. "No. It's just how you say that it sounds like I have a lot of friends."

"Isn't it great?" Otacon gently patted her shoulder in encouragement. "Why don't you get them?"

"Ok!" Sunny rounded Otacon's crouched form and sped down the staircase. Her padding shoes echoed through the wide hangar.

By the time Otacon emerged from the darkened interior of the Nomad to shining daylight, Sunny was already chattering with Raiden and John. Sunny kept waving at John whenever he passed her. His arms were spread straight out his sides and he pretended to fly like a plane. John circled around his father and the perky girl, loud engine roaring spouting from his lungs.

Otacon approached Snake, who was standing a couple feet away from the conversing crowd. Snake leaned slightly toward Otacon and said in a low and amused tone, "She's trying to convince him to come aboard."

Otacon watched Sunny watch Raiden's reaction to come inside. Clothed in jeans and a long chambray shirt, Raiden appeared as ordinary as the rest of them. He was still getting used to normalcy, or whatever passed as normal when one was practically a cybernetic.

"Breakfast? You want to make me breakfast?" Raiden's sincere question sounded genuinely surprised, like he didn't expect such a kind gesture.

Sunny giggled nervously. "Um, I made it already. I think it turned out really good."

Snake nodded at her statement as he spoke to his friend. "Take her word for it." Snake was smirking. Under all that thick moustache, the grin Otacon made out instantly. It was so rare on Snake.

Raiden, however, appeared as if he wished to be able to smile as easily as he had after the Big Shell incident. Rose standing in the street, his eyes catching hers, expectantly hopeful. As Rose's image floated through Otacon's cerebrum, he directed to Raiden, "Where is your wife today?"

Hearing her name lifted his face. "She's not feeling so great. Something about undercooked fish."

Snake murmured something Otacon couldn't make out, but he caught the word "rations".

Raiden looked appreciatively at Sunny but also a bit sad. Otacon was puzzled, but then he understood. Raiden's body was hardly human anymore. Breakfast wouldn't be truly savored compared to humans.

"Thank you, Sunny." Raiden's voice was muted. "But I will need some assistance to finish it. I... don't have the stomach I used to." He glanced down.

But not for long. Sunny pointed at the flying John. "Can he help?" she asked, eliciting a warm expression on Raiden's face.

"Of course. John," Raiden called out to his son, who immediately responded by zooming over and hopping in his father's lap. Raiden touched the top of his spiked hair. "How would you like to share Sunny's home-cooking with me?"

John blinked, his round eyes staring at Sunny, then up to his dad's chin because he couldn't see higher than it. "Ok."

Sunny beamed. She was not sharing her eggs with one person, but two at once! Otacon could read the bubbling anticipation in her gamine expression. She bounced on the heels of her feet elatedly while she watched John and Raiden pass her to go inside the Nomad ahead of her.

Then as if remembering she had to setup the table for them, she ran ahead. When Otacon reached the dining spot, Sunny had cleared off the tabletop of instant noodle boxes and some dolls Snake had given her. Raiden and John ascended the stairs, Raiden needing to stoop low to keep from banging his head on the bulkhead. This was John's first visit to the Nomad and he was looking around in wide-eyed wonder.

Raiden guided the little boy in front of the eggs, letting him take the main seat. Raiden settled on a side seat.

Sunny zipped to the stove counter to fetch the prize plate, then carefully walked back over and set it down in front of of them.

Raiden smiled upon spotting the unique breakfast.

"It's very artistic." Raiden complimented this to Sunny. In addition to the normal egg eyes, Sunny had framed them with hair, courtesy of Hide-chan's Instant Noodles. She was proud for thinking up such a neat idea and she giggled at Otacon who knew her secret ingredient before anyone else did.

"I don't want to eat it," John suddenly stated. Sunny tried not to show her spirits dip, but Otacon could tell by her short downward gaze.

Raiden must have saw the letdown on her face too and he stared at the recalcitrant boy. "Why? You said you wanted to a minute ago. Don't be rude."

John pointed at it and then grinned. "But it looks cool. I don't want to wreck it."

Happiness soared within Sunny again and she rushed to the table edge and waved her hands excitedly. "I-I-It's ok! I can always make more. Please eat."

After a moment's more hesitation, John dug in. At seeing eager forkfuls of egg shoved into his mouth and no bits of them tumbling back out in disgust, Otacon wrote himself a mental note: Stock extra eggs and instant noodles from now on.

- THE END -