Ruby was busying herself, staring at her wall as per her routine.
The wall was strangely..darker than usual.
The slight disturbance to what she is used to broke her concentration.
Her daydreaming coming to a halt.
That's when she noticed.
It wasn't the wall itself that was darker.
It was the air in the room itself.
The air was dark.
Smoke.
Why was there smoke?
Smoke usually comes from fire.
Fire? In her apartment?
…
"No no no! I can't afford a fire! I carefully calculated my savings. A fire would set back my daydreaming time! How- I made sure to not use any appliances other than my microwave to save money! How-"
Quickly running out of her room, her ramblings stopped.
"Oh! Ruby, miss Ruby! The food is almost done, please sit down!"
Visio was standing in front of the oven, frying something she didn't buy in a pan she didn't know she had.
"I..w..what?"
Dazed at what she was seeing. She obediently sat down.
"All done!"
Visio elegantly placed a plate in front of her.
A fancy dish she had only ever seen in pictures.
Or maybe on the television, back when she had one?
It certainly looked the part.
It was plated masterfully. She wouldn't be surprised to see a dish like this served at a five star restaurant.
Not that she'd ever been in one.
Visio sat down across her, resting his chin in his hands. Watching her with suspense. Urging her to try it.
"I..no..first of all..where did you get all this. I only stocked frozen dinners and canned fruits..and second of all..you're a delusion..how can you have cooked something.."
She continued to blink in confusion.
Could she have subconsciously cooked this and imagined it was Visio doing it?
No but even then, she had none of these ingredients and tools?
Is this all purely imaginary?
That was an intriguing thought.
The idea of imaginary food.
Food that was both free and as delicious as her imagination allowed.
Maybe…she could play along with this delusion..for now.
She picked up her fork, picking up what she assumed to be meat and taking a bite.
She chewed.
…
She kept chewing.
..
She stopped chewing.
.
Her faced darkened.
"...blehhh…"
The content of her mouth spilled back onto her plate.
"H-hey! I spent hours cooking that! Why are you spitting it out!"
He complained at her.
"..how.."
"Hmm?"
"..how."
"How what? Miss Ruby?"
"HOW do you cook something for HOURS. Yet having it be RAW inside and charred like charcoal on the outside!? And why is it so salty?! And..and oily?!"
She walked over to the sink and began to rinse her mouth.
"Hey it wasn't that bad.."
"Have you TRIED it?"
"Of course I have. It tasted fine. See."
He grabbed a piece of meat that was still unmolested by Ruby's spit and ate it.
The rest of the plate quickly became filled with the contents of Visios mouth.
"Move over!"
He pushed her aside? Dunking his head into the sink and letting the tap fill his mouth with water directly.
Ruby watched this with a slight amusement for a while.
"Honestly..how is my own delusion this bad at cooking. It's my own imagination surely it should at least taste like something I'm used to instead of.."
She shuddered when glancing back at her plate.
"I did my best. It's not my fault dreams focus on the visual sensations more than the sensation of taste..!"
Ruby wasn't listening to his excuses. Instead she was looking at the left over ingredients.
She wondered..
Picking up the still hot frying pan, she cleaned it and put it back on the stove.
Using up the leftover ingredients she quickly prepared a meal.
Before long, her and Visio were sitting at the table, each with a messy plate of her dish.
"It looks..unappetising."
"It's homemade fried rice. Of course it looks unappetising. Just eat it. Actually. Don't. You're not real anyway. It doesn't matter what you think. That way I can eat your plate tommorow."
"No I'll eat it!"
He quickly grabbed a fork and began eating, afraid Ruby would take his meal away.
He chewed.
…
Chewed.
…
And swallowed.
"This..tastes amazing.."
"I guess it's okay. I was trying to imagine something more delicious. But I guess I can't really control these delusions after all. If I could, I would have made you disappear already."
"that was uncalled for! And here I tried to cook for you!"
"I wouldn't call what you did cooking."
She slowly ate her fried rice as Vision was elegantly finishing his.
"..but really. This tastes very real. Are my delusions really this potent?"
She ate her last bite in amazement at her own powers of self-delusion.
"That's because it is real?"
Visio explained.
"What are you talking about? I never bought these ingredients. I don't even own a frying pan. This was all just my own delusions. Same as you."
"No no. The food is very real."
"You can't prove that it is. You're just a delusion."
A loud rumbling echoed from the other side of the wall.
Her neighbor was being very rowdy today.
More rumbling. This time from the other wall. Her other neighbour.
Both began shouting.
What had them so riled up today?
"WHERE IS MY GRANDMOTHER'S FRYING PAN. SOMEBODY STOLE MY GRANDMOTHER'S MEMENTO. WHO THE HELL-"
"MY BALCONY GARDEN. SOMEBODY HAS RAIDED MY BALCONY GARDEN. WHAT BASTARD BURGLAR INVADES SOMEONE HOME JUST TO STEAL THEIR HARD WORK. WHEN I FIND WHOEVER DID THIS-"
Similar shouting could be heard from several of her other neighbors.
"I can't prove it's real..but I guess they can?"
He smiled awkwardly.
"Aha..haha.."
She looked down at her empty plate, letting out some hollow laughter.
"Ha..aha..Visio…you…useless delusion of mine!"
Jumping over the table, she kneed him in his perfectly sculpted jaw. Tears running down her face.