"Shit," Lightning wore, leaning away from the smoke that blew up in her face. Shaking her head and blinking her stinging eyes, she grumbled darkly as she slammed the sheet on top of the stove, glaring at the charred lumps on it. Lindzie's tits, you had to be kidding her.

She did everything right!

She made sure!

She double checked!

She measured, she timed, checked the time when she put it in and practically watched the clock the whole time! Maybe she got a little caught up in cleaning... "Shit," she repeated, leaning on the counter and sulking moodily and watching the smoke draft off the lumps. This was ridiculous.

She jumped when the door to the kitchen flew, a wide eyed prince rushing in. "Where's the fire?!" he exclaimed. His eyes locked onto the smoking lumps, shriveled and cracked on the sheet. "What… what happened?" Noctis asked, turning his gaze slowly to the scowling Lightning, covered in dough and flour, smudged over her cheek and nose and… an eggshell in her hair? She simply huffed while he scrambled over, trying to wave the smoke away before servants or Cor burst into the kitchen. By the looks of her current mood, an encounter with a worried Cor would just lead to much drama.

Turning to her, he pressed, "Lightning?"

"Nothing," she snapped.

"Oh yeah, because we make burn—charred cookies everyday—" he paused and blinked as a thought occurred to him. Twice. Thrice. He stared at Lightning, long and hard. She narrowed her eyes back at him, tightening her crossed arms. Growling, she snapped, "What?!"

"Yo-you're cooking."

"Yeah so?" she grumbled.

"You're cooking," he repeats, like the fact was just so… alien. Lightning cooking… what, just what brought such a thing on? "Is something happening?" he asked.

Lightning sighed, coming up beside him, taking the sheet and dumping her charred work into the trash. "Serah's coming to visit and I was trying to make cookies like our mom used too."

A silent oh came out of Noctis. Serah was coming. Lightning always flipped when Serah was coming, it was like a puppy that heard their master driving into the drive way. Well, maybe not a puppy but still; Lightning was always jumpy and full of energy whenever Serah came to visit. Something always happened when she came, Lightning always did stuff she wouldn't normally, like get dragged off to shop; and Serah would work on her self-defense in return.

So this time, Lightning was going to cook.

Well, attempt too.

"So," Noctis mused, watching as Lightning cut off the smoke with a slam of the lid. "What are you going to do now?"

Lightning shrugged, wrinkling her nose as she glared at the trash can. "Probably just buy some. That was my third try."

Third? While Noctis noted never to have her cooking he offered, "How about I help?"

Lightning raised a brow. "Help?" she repeated.

"Yeah," he was actually starting to life the idea, "you know, fourth times the charm?"

"Never heard that."

"Well you don't go out much."

"I patrol half of Insomnia. I probably hear more about the latest trend than you."

He laughed, "I highly doubt that. I go to more parities than you, thus, I usually know the latest trend long before anyone else does."

She snorts. "Not only do you hate those parties, you don't even pay attention to what half those people say. Much less care."

He opened his mouth to reply only to close. Yeah, she did have him there. He never paid attention to what anyone said, he always heard it from Prompto later, if it was important, Ignis; and if it was the latest work out equipment, he heard it from Gladiolus. And was usually pestered by them all to get it or pay attention to whatever it was they needed. Noctis frowned as he realized that yes, Lightning, whose job was to pay attention to people, probably did know more about the latest trend than him…

"Anyway!" he cut off, "tell me the basics, I'll help with this batch! We'll make it work."

Lightning eyed the half used ingredients, grimacing. "No," she huffed, "I'm done with this kitchen. I'm going to bed."

"Wait! Lightning!"

"You wanna mess with it, you go ahead," she snapped, "I'm tired and I'm done. And I need a damn shower. See ya tomorrow." The kitchen door slammed shut behind her, leaving Noctis alone in the kitchen. Rolling his eyes, he looked around, deciding that yes, he was going to mess with it. He was going to make those awesome cookies that her mom made.

If he could figure out what to do first…

Frowning at the pans hung over the oven, they looked clean and untouched, so Lightning didn't use them… the bowel was messy so that was used. There was a big spoon, that mixed, he knew that much. And oven, he'll need oven. Just, what to do first?

What sort of cookies were they?

"Light? You gone?"

No response.

He was on his own.

"Ok," he sighed, "on my own. I can do this. Uh… recipe, I need, recipe." That would be the first thing. Find out what he was cooking. He found it, set on a far counter away from where Lightning was cooking and secured to stay clean. Looking over, Noctis wasn't surprised to see a simple chocolate chip recipe. Farrons always seemed to just like simple. Nothing big or flashy, and by Lightning's skills, that probably would have been best, if she was decent.

Ok let's see… butter, brown sugar, regular sugar, flour, chocolate chips, vanilla, eggs, salt, soda… soda? Oh, baking soda. Noctis blinked. There was such a thing as baking soda? What, what was it exactly?

Shrugging, Noctis decided to just try and make it. "Alright so according to this, first I have to turn oven on… it's on. Not a cool move Light. Ok, that's done what else. Melt a stick of butter. Ok." Grabbing a new stick, he stopped just before he unwraps it he realizes he had yet to wash his hands. When he was a kid and would watch the chefs cook, they always washed their hands. Washing his hands real quick, he unwrap the butter and dropped it in a clean bowel. With a little fire spell, he had that butter melted in seconds. "Easy," he chirped. Now what's next?

"Whisk eggs, vanilla, sugar, and the melted butter… what the hell is whisking?"

Maybe it was a form of stirring?

Shrugging, he did the measurements, pouring all items into a bigger bowl and started stirring. Er, whisking. Maybe. Either way, this wasn't so bad. What was so hard about this? Glancing at the recipe, he saw that next objective was to mix dry ingredients together and then mixing dry and wet batters together.

Just what was so hard about this?

As he mixed the dry ingredients, he didn't notice the dust of flour flying up and caking his face and hair. By the time it was all mixed up, Noctis was stark white. His face was ghostly and cracked with flour dust, his hair white up front, specifically with the fringes near his face; his clothes, once dark, were smeared with batter and flour.

But he didn't notice as he got lost in the cooking. Mixing the batters up he glanced at the recipe to see how to make the cookies. That sounded simple too. Plucking the dough out and shaping it into small balls, he set them on an already greased sheet that Lightning left, shaping them as he wanted. When he was happy, he put the sheet in the oven, glancing at the clock to check the time. Then he turned to eye the messy kitchen. He sighed at the thought of cleaning.

Lightning enjoyed cleaning, she told him once that she found it very relaxing.

How, Noctis couldn't see. He always had servants to do cleaning for him, but he also had chefs to cook for him and he did cooking for the first time in his life, and he dare say he enjoyed it.

Maybe he would enjoy cleaning too…?

Lighting twisted and turned in her bed, growling when she couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep. She was tired, she was cranky, and frustrated and just wanted to sleep it all away. But for some dumb reason, she couldn't settle and sleep.

Usually she used this time to get up and do something productive till she was tired enough to pass out, comfortable or not.

She didn't exactly want to get up either.

Sighing aloud and glaring at the warm blankets, Lightning forced herself up and climbed out of bed. Pulling a loose white jacket over her, she slipped out of her room and made her way back down to the kitchen.

One last try.

She was going to give it one last try before she gave up and just bought cookies. If she was able to make a successful batch, Serah would be so happy and Lightning couldn't miss such an opportunity.

She stopped when she smelled something delightful and familiar. Curious, she sped down to the kitchen, bursting through the door to see Noctis staring in awe at the perfect tray of cookies he was setting on the oven. They were masterpieces.

It clicked in her head real fast to realize that Noctis, Noctis the prince who never cooked in his life, made them.

Prince Noctis made cookies. Successfully. On his first try.

And she's been struggling with cooking since she was fourteen.

"Bullshit," she swore, making him jump as she snatched a cookie off the tray, ignoring the heat as she took a bite. Dear Etro it was hot.

But dear Etro it was good.

"Bullshit," she repeated, setting the cookie on the now clean counter and shooting him a look. "You made these?"

"Yeah," he said, a smile blooming over his face. "I made them. I made them. I have a gift Light!"

"I can't believe this," she grumbled, unable to help herself as she tore on in half and bit into it. It was just too good damn him.

He smirked, holding his head high as he shot her a smug look. "Whose king of the kitchen?"

"Shut up," she warned, shaking her head as she glared at the cookies. She couldn't believe this. His first time cooking too!

"Light," he teased, "admit it."

She shot him a look. Sighing a loud, she caved. "Alright, alright, I acknowledge that Prince Noctis Caelum is the messiest king of the kitchens in all of Lucis."

Noctis practically swelled, unable to keep himself from gloating. "That's right, for I am a true gift to this world, the greatest cook ever— wait, messy?" He looked down, his jaw dropping to see that his clothes were no longer black and sharp; but stained white and covered in batter. And he didn't even notice.

"Wha-how, when did this happen?!"

Lightning only snickered as she plucked another hot cookie, patting his dusty shoulder. "Take a bath," she advised as she left the kitchen again, leaving the baffled prince behind, trying to figure out when he got so messy.

At least she had cookies for Serah now.