"We're going to make…bread?" Roxas asked, his bright blue eyes wide in confusion. Axel looked up from his lounging position on a pale gray couch. Demyx nodded excitedly.

"Yeah!"

Axel groaned. "Demyx, please don't tell me Zexion lent you a cookbook."

Demyx grinned wider than Axel thought physically possible, his sea green eyes glowing mischievously. "Maaayyybeee…"

"I'll kill him," Roxas grimaced. Axel chuckled.

"Come on, guys, pleeeaaaseee? We hardly ever get to do anything fun around here!" Demyx pouted.

"Lighting things on fire is fun," Axel mumbled, snapping his black glove-clad fingers. A small, glowing flame danced across his fingertips, the light reflecting in his bright green eyes.

Demyx huffed. "Well, I'm not some freaky pyro, so…" Roxas laughed.

Axel narrowed his eyes and, flicking his wrist, the sleeve of both Demyx and Roxas's cloaks caught fire. Both started flailing their arms around, shouting profanities at Axel. "Put it out, put it out, put it ooouuut!"

Axel grinned, satisfied, and with a snap of his fingers, the fire was gone. The blondes heaved a sigh of relief, and glared at the redhead. Axel laughed. "What? You morons deserved it!" He grabbed the pair in a dual headlock, mussing up their hair playfully.

Demyx squirmed free, and combing out his mullet-like hairdo, scowled at Axel. The redhead, however, didn't notice, as he was too busy picking on Roxas.

"Awww, whatsa matter, blondie? Too puny to fight back?" Axel ruffled Roxas's spiky hair, still holding him in a headlock.

"Come on, Axel, let me go!" Roxas wrestled out of Axel's grip, and rolled away from him. The redhead chuckled.

Demyx flopped down on the couch and groaned. "Can we just make the bread now?"

Axel rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, okay, fine, you big baby."

Demyx jumped up. "To the kitchen!"

Roxas sat up off the floor. "We have a kitchen?"

Axel laughed. "Come on, Roxas, you're not that new anymore. You still don't know where anything is in the castle?"

"The castle's huge!" Roxas objected.

"It's true; I still get lost in here," Demyx scratched the back of his head. Axel frowned. "Demyx, you have no excuse."

After a pause, Roxas and Axel burst out in laugher, and Demyx scowled. "Hey! Come on, not cool!"

Axel pulled Roxas up off the floor and grinned at Demyx. "Let's go look for the kitchen, then?"

"I know where the kitchen is, you meanie!" Demyx stuck his tongue out at Axel and then proceeded to storm off in the general direction of where said kitchen was located. Axel smirked and walked after him. Roxas followed, confused.

Walking into the castle's kitchen, Roxas looked around. The room looked the same as the rest of the castle; bleak, dull and gray, with windows opening out to nothing but black sky. The only difference was there were a multitude of kitchen appliances, pots and pans scattered around.

"See? Told you I knew where this room was!" Demyx stated triumphantly.

"…I guess we're just going to ignore the fact that you got us lost several times? And that it took us a half hour to get to the kitchen that's only five minutes away from the break room?" Axel asked incredulously.

Demyx shot Axel a look. "Shut up, pyro-wah!"

Axel caught Demyx on fire. Again. Roxas collapsed on the floor in a fit of laughter.

"WAAAHHH! STOP CATCHING ME ON FIIIREEE!" Demyx screamed as he ran around the kitchen.

Axel glanced over at Roxas. "Watch this," turning on the sink, Axel filled a chrome measuring cup with raised measurement markings with water, and waited for the right timing…

SPLASH.

Followed with shrieking from Demyx. Axel and Roxas started laughing so hard they had to wipe tears from their eyes. Demyx pursed his lips. "Stop picking on me!"

Axel smirked. "Awww, what's wrong, Dem? Is your own element conspiring against you?" Roxas was currently gasping for air.

Demyx threw a pot at Axel, narrowly missing by a few inches, hitting the back wall, cracking it. Axel blinked. "Whoa, Demy, calm down. That could have actually hurt."

Demyx scowled. "Can we please just make the bread now?"

Axel nodded. "Yeah, sure. You have the recipe?"

Demyx nodded. "Yeah!" Opening up a book, he leafed through the pages until he found the recipe for bread that he was looking for. "Roxas, can you get all this stuff out?"

Roxas nodded. "On it." He began digging through the numerous cabinets along the walls of the kitchen in an attempt to find the needed ingredients. He was having a bit of difficulty. "There's too many cabinets… I can't find anything," Roxas whined.

Axel chuckled and, taking mercy on the blonde, agreed to help Roxas search. Demyx busied himself with getting out bowls and measuring tools.

"Find the stuff yet?" Demyx stood on his tiptoes to look over Axel's shoulder.

Axel nodded. "Yeah, help us put all this crap on the table, will ya?"

After measuring out all the ingredients, it was time to mix the dough.

"Roxas, pour a little bit of flour in every couple seconds while I mix it with the water," Demyx instructed.

Roxas nodded and tipped the smaller flour bowl into the larger mixing one. "Like this?"

Demyx nodded. "Good! Okay, now more, more, more…"

Roxas poured and Demyx mixed while Axel watched, amused. Knowing these two, something stupid was bound to happen in five, four, three, two…

"AUGH! ROXAS, YOU IDIOT!"

…one. Axel grinned.

"I'm sorry, Demyx! I didn't mean to, really!" Roxas quickly set the empty flour bowl on the table. Axel snickered.

Demyx's black cloak was currently covered with a dusting of white flour, courtesy of Roxas. "You dumped the whole bowl on me!"

Roxas's face was beet red. Axel clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Don't be upset, Roxy, the look kinda suits him!"

Demyx stuck his tongue out at Axel, and Roxas smiled slightly. Pulling off his cloak, Demyx hung it over a chair and sighed. "Guess I'll have to wash it later…"

"Since when do you do laundry, you bum?" Axel teased Demyx.

All three laughed, before returning to making the bread.

The rest of the process went fairly painlessly, until it was time to knead the dough.

"Demyx, you're not kneading fast enough," Axel tapped the page in the cookbook where the recipe was written, "according to this book."

"Yeah yeah, shut up, I'm tired!" Demyx glared over his shoulder at Axel, who was leaning against the counter.

"I'll try it," Roxas offered.

"Nah, you're too short and wimpy," Demyx snickered, "you can't get enough leverage."

"I'm not that short…"

"Yes you are."

"Why don't you try kneading the dough, Axel!"

After the kneading ordeal was over, the trio put the dough in the fridge to rise.

"Now we wait," Demyx declared cheerfully.

"How long?" Roxas tried to read the cookbook which Axel was currently holding.

"About two hours," Axel snapped the book shut.

"What are we supposed to do for two hours?"

"I'm gonna go take a nap," Axel stretched his arms over his head and yawned, leaving the kitchen.

"I guess I'll go practice my sitar," Demyx wandered out.

Roxas was left alone in the kitchen, unable to think of anything productive to do, so he sat down at the kitchen table and waited.

Two hours later, Axel and Demyx returned to the kitchen to find Roxas zonked out on the kitchen table, snoring loudly. The paired quietly snickered to themselves, as Axel walked over to where Roxas was sitting and tipped his chair backwards.

Roxas started awake, but still fell back with his chair and landed with a loud 'thud'. Axel and Demyx were rolling on the floor in laughter. Roxas threw a leg of the broken chair at them. "Shut uuup!"

"Aaah! Roxas, don't kill us," Demyx laughed.

Axel picked up the black wood piece and threw it back at Roxas, who dodged it. "It's time to put the bread in the oven now, right?" He asked, getting up and piling the broken remains of the chair in a corner to blame on Larxene later.

Demyx nodded. "Yup. Grab a pan out of the cabinet will ya-" He was cut off as he caught a pan that Axel had thrown at him. "…never mind." Rolling the dough into a "bread loaf" shape, Demyx placed it in the pan and into the oven.

"Aren't you supposed to preheat the oven first?" Roxas asked innocently.

Demyx paled. "Ah…yes, we are…I…forgot, heh heh heh…heh."

Axel rolled his eyes. "Obviously, you didn't read the whole recipe."

"I was reading as we went along!" Demyx huffed. Axel chuckled, and quickly turned the temperature dial to preheat the oven. After a few minutes, the oven dinged, and Demyx slid the pan into the oven.

"How long does it have to bake for?" Roxas peered into the oven through the window.

"…about 40 minutes," Axel looked down and read from the book.

Demyx rubbed his hands together. "Excellent. Roxas," he turned and pointed at the blonde, "you're on bread-watching duty." Roxas blinked.

"Couldn't we just set the oven timer?"

Demyx paused. Axel reached over his head and turned the timer on.

"…oh."

After about 40 minutes the trio pulled the bread out of the oven, and basked in its golden-brown glory. "It looks AWESOME!" Demyx exclaimed, excited. Axel chuckled, and Roxas smiled.

"All that ridiculous work actually produced something decent," Axel sighed, cracking his knuckles.

After letting the bread cool for awhile, Demyx cut it into slices. "Okay, who wants to try it first?" Roxas and Axel paused, a little hesitant. Demyx huffed. "Fine, I'll try it first!"

Taking a bite, Demyx spluttered and spit the piece out into a napkin. "Bleh! We used sugar instead of salt!"

Hearing a knock on his bedroom door, Zexion got up off his bed and answered it, but no one was there. Glancing around with his icy blue eyes, he was about to close the door and go back to his reading when he looked down, and saw a loaf of bread on a silver platter with a bow stuck to it.

He picked it up, brushing his silver-blue hair behind his ear, and saw a note with his name written on the front in a messy scrawl. Unfolding it, he read,

Thanks for lending us the cookbook, Zexion! Demyx, Axel and Roxas.