[Team One] If A Cookie Gives You Words

[knittenkitten]

[fandom:Kingdom Hearts, Sora, Riku, Aerith, G, 906 words]

“A plateful of these shared between you and your Riku, and you might just find those words to tell him how you feel.”

“Huh?”

Aerith giggled and slipped four of the cooled chocolate chip cookies onto a plain, white plate. “These are for Riku, aren’t they?”

Sora searched Aerith’s smile for her intent. “Well, I was going to share these with him, but what made you think I was looking for words?” he asked, finding none.

He’d been subjected to enough teasing to know to leave out the “I’m not one to think about words all that much” part (even though it was true).

”Just kinda figured,” she said with a shrug.

There it was. Sora put his hands on his hips. “And what’s the problem with making cookies for your friend, exactly?”

Aerith lifted a hand to her face. “Oh, did I read you wrong? Here I was thinking my Sora senses were spot-on,” she sighed. “Guess I’ll have to work on them.”

“You guys are so weird sometimes,” Sora muttered.

“And you’re a very good friend. You should think about those words sometime!” Aerith presented the plate of cookies to Sora. “Off you go, then!”

Sora nodded, taking the plate from Aerith’s outstretched arms. He went to leave, but then he saw Little Chef glaring at him, followed by the egg shells that he’d left on the counter.

Whoops.

He dropped the plate onto the metal counter—perhaps from a bit too high, judging from the clang—and ran over to the sink to grab a washcloth. With a scoop and a swoosh and a soap and a scrub, the job was done.

Sora grinned at Little Chef, who rewarded him with a thumbs up, and then at Aerith, who was… already holding the door for him, tapping her fingers against the wood. Smiling a bit too big for Sora’s tastes, too.

He was getting pretty sick of people thinking they could hide that they were teasing him about Riku. Have none of these people ever met childhood friends before? Were they some kind of Destiny Islands specialty?

Anyway. Cookie time.

Sora ignored Aerith and walked out to Cid’s laboratory to place the plate of cookies on the table to his right. “Riku—woah!”

He doubled back and almost knocked the plate off the table catching himself when he noticed Riku had been waiting just to his left. Riku, for his part, was cool as a cucumber, giving Sora a subtle nod hello.

“Cookies done?”

“Did you guess from the smell?” Sora asked, moving forward to gesture at the plate.

Riku took a second to appreciate the smell with a noticeable sniff, then shook his head. “You told me two hours ago. Pretty much right after you asked me to meet you here, actually.”

“Oh yeah.”

He forgot how big his mouth could be sometimes. He wasn’t one to remember his words, either, after all.

“I’m surprised, though. They look edible!” Riku said, chuckling as he reached past Sora to pick up a cookie and examine its texture with his fingers.

Sora took no offense, grinning and holding up a cookie like a trophy. “I told you I can cook now! Aerith taught me how to keep the dough from getting so clumpy, too.”

“As somebody who has been eating your cookies, edible or not, from your first burned birthday batch, I think…” Riku popped the cookie in his mouth and chewed, making a loud sound of satisfaction. “… these are easily your best yet.”

Warm.

The way Sora’s face suddenly felt, just like the trophy-cookie between his fingers. That certainly was a word that described how Riku made him feel.

“Thanks!” he said, putting his hands behind his head.

“Thank you, Sora.”

Now even warmer, and before silence could truly ensue, Aerith kicked the door and emerged from the kitchen with two glasses of milk. “A-almost forgot this! Can’t have cookies without milk, right?”

“Perfect! Thank you, Aerith,” Riku said, taking a glass and immediately taking a big gulp.

Sora could’ve sworn Tifa kept the kitchen door slightly ajar when Aerith returned—and what was she doing there all of a sudden, exactly?—but he decided to pay it no mind. He took a sip of his own glass and ate his first cookie. It was warm, and more cookie-esque than any cookie he’d ever made before, but what also stood out to him was that it was…

“Sweet!”

…like when Riku complimented him on his cookies, or put a hand on his shoulder when he was feeling down.

“Delicious,” Riku agreed with a nod as he finished his last cookie.

…not that word so much. At least, probably not.

Warm and sweet, though. Maybe Aerith had had the right idea suggesting he’d find words making chocolate chip cookies and serving them fresh to Riku.

“She was right!” Sora whispered, looking at the last cookie and admiring its crumbly texture and roasted browns.

“About what?”

Sora gulped it and the rest of his milk down with a casual shrug. “Aw, you know.”

Riku smiled and shook his head—an absolutely cruel denial of the reaction Sora was looking for.

Aerith and Tifa were definitely peeking through the kitchen door. No matter. Sora and his warm and sweet friend had better things to do than hang around a stuffy old laboratory and get spied on.

Sora grabbed Riku’s hand and pulled him toward the Radiant Garden square.

“C’mon! Let’s go!”

Tagging oath_breaker!