28 Failed Attempts- Hobie Attempts to Cook
It was obvious, if you paid attention that is, that Hobie Brown's love language towards others was Acts of Service. It's how he showed he cared. Such as when made his own interdimensional watch to help Gwen rescue Miles and let her crash in his dimension, or when he tried to give Miles advice on his electrical powers, or even when he looked after Mayday when Peter got busy or just needed a break. Really it wasn't difficult to see that when Hobie cared about someone he tried to do things that would help them or make them happy. That's why when he finally got the bottle to confess to his best spider-mate, Pavitr Prabhakar, he decided to do a meaningful gesture to confess his fancy.
Pavitr was a bloody amazing lad in his eyes: brilliant, full of beans, incredibly strong, a real ace Spider-Man, and a right-fit bloke as well. He never seemed to let life get him down too long, always looking for a positive and keeping good humor about him. He knew when to get serious and deeply cared for his friends. When Pav had learned he didn't always have steady meals back in his dimension not only did he give Hobie an open invitation to pop in for a meal whenever he fancied but insisted on teaching him some proper Indian dishes so he could feed himself. Who wouldn't fall for a boy like that?
This led him to where he was now, in his kitchen a month before his planned confession trying to figure out how to not muck up a simple dal recipe. Masoor daal, or red lentils, was a relatively simple recipe Pav made for him before, so he thought he'd give it a go. All he really had to do was wash the lentils, fry up his aromatics, add in the lentils with water and some seasonings (Pav had stressed to him just salt and pepper was in no way enough seasoning), and cook until they reached the desired soft daal texture. Easy right? What could possibly go wrong?
-15 minutes later-
BEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEP! BEE-
Hobie frantically pushed open a window, coughing and trying to get the smoke and smell out of his kitchen. How did I even manage to burn the aromatics three seconds after putting them in? I thought oil boiled not burned! A quick consultation with the internet and the old Punjabi couple living a few blocks down revealed he should adjust the heat level and peel his ginger before use, or substitute it with ginger paste, which he decided to forgo wanting the dish to be as close to Pavi's daal as possible well there was still time to try to perfect it.
-5 days later-
On his next attempt, Hobie forgets to add the aromatics altogether and while edible the dish is rather lacking
-1 week later-
On his 12th attempt, Hobie get runs out of spices and the daal comes out just a touch too bland. He sighs to himself and resolves to acquire more before his next attempt.
-the next day-
On his 13th attempt, Hobie is reequipped with spices. Unfortunately for him, he goes a little heavy-handed with the garam masala. Even the Cheema's ( the old Punjabi couple) find it a bit difficult to choke down.
-1 lifetime later-
It is Hobie's 21st attempt and he thinks he's really got it this time. That is until his spider-hearing picks up a kerfuffle that sounds like the beginnings of a brawl. He takes glance a at the stove, telling himself he'll only be gone jiffy before swinging out the window. By the time he gets back, the daal is pitifully mushy and unappetizing.
-1 eternity later-
It is Hobie's 29th and final practice attempt before he confesses to Pavitr in three days. He finds himself saying a little prayer to the food gods that this attempt is successful. He carefully prepped his ingredients, adjusted the heat, and figured out the spice ratio and the exact cook time. All that was left to do was pray he hadn't managed to fuck up in some new way this time. Upon the taste test, Hobie nearly cries tears of joy. It was nowhere near as good as Pav made it, the cumin tasted slightly burnt, there were small chunks of garlic in it, and it was just a tad too soft but it was edible and tasted like daal, admittedly subpar daal, but daal none the less.
Hobie reveled in his victory, giggling to himself while packing some up for the Cheema's to try, the sweet couple gave him some surprisingly harsh feedback and great advice on cooking in the last month. Just as he was about to leave he got a notification on his watch, a message from Pav reminding him that the gang would be having a meet-up today "where the British stole all our stuff". Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Hobie's head. A devilish grin spread across his face. Well, now there's an idea that's more my speed.