Sun eagerly carried grocery bags into the house as his mother trailed behind, admiring the cuteness of her son. Although only almost a week passed since they first arrived in Alola, she had never seen him passionate about something for a while. The situation was completely different from when Sun was excited about receiving his first Pokémon, and beginning his island challenge not too long ago. She never expected Sun to quickly fall in love at first sight—with a boy at that—and now he was eager to impress his crush before he resumed his island challenge.
Sun set all the bags he carried onto a kitchen island, and dug through all of them to find the items he needed. He rushed to put on a cooking apron and preparing ingredients for a swift baking session. His mother went to his side and watched him for a moment.
"All right, shall we get started?" she said, reaching for her apron.
"Wait, Mom," Sun called out. "I need to do this by myself."
His mother paused and looked at him strangely. "You already know how to make malasadas from scratch?"
"Well, no… but I need to learn how to eventually, don't I?"
His mother gently shrugged. "That's true, but this is your first time, isn't it? We might as well give him a good first impression."
"It can't be that hard to make malasadas," Sun said. "We just gotta bake dough and fill it with cream, right?"
The mother shook her head. "Not at all."
"Oh man…" Sun mumbled. "I'll just look up a recipe really quick!"
"Sun, I already know how to make some. I studied a few recipes for you." She proceeded in putting on her apron. "We can get started immediately."
"But mom—I just wanna try doing this on my own...it's gotta be special!"
Thud, thud, thud. A gentle knocking on the front door turned their heads away for the moment. Sun's mother approached the door and opened it. Standing daintily on the front porch was a familiar face to the boy, who looked over curiously. A girl with vanilla blonde hair and elegant attire gently looked up at the woman in front of her.
"Ah—Alola, ma'am," uttered the girl.
"Lillie?" Sun called out.
"Hello, Sun," she replied.
"Another friend, Sun?" his mother questioned.
Sun nodded. "What're you doing here?"
"I saw you carrying groceries just as you exited the market," Lillie replied. "I was curious if you were going to start making malasadas today."
"Ah, so you know about Sun's plans?" Sun's mother smirked. "And his little crush?"
"Oh, yes I do," Lillie replied. "He was very obvious about it when he started asking me about what I knew about Hau." Lillie carelessly grinned, "You should have seen him blushing when we were having lunch together and he was sitting next to him—"
"Gah—Lillie!" Sun exclaimed.
"Aw, he must have looked so adorable!" Sun's mother giggled.
Sun pouted and frustratingly grabbed the pack of new flour. "Well, don't mind me, but I am going to start cooking now."
Lillie was welcomed into the house, and she walked towards the kitchen area. She found large-sized quantities of flour, yeast, eggs, sugar, butter, and oil spread out on the counters. "This looks like a lot of work," she commented. "Will you be okay, Sun?"
"He has my help, so he will be fine," said his mother.
"Mom, I told you, I need to do this by myself," Sun continued.
"Even though you don't know the first step to making them?" his mother playfully sneered.
Sun grunted, freezing in place. "Eh…"
"Sun, you should accept your mother's help," Lillie added. "Hau doesn't have to know she took part in making them. I'm sure she is even fine with you taking the credit for making all the malasadas."
"Well…fine, I guess. But I'll just learn how to make a batch from her, and then I have to make the final batch by myself."
"Fair enough," nodded his mother, "but I still have to supervise you so you don't hurt yourself, okay?"
Sun nodded, "Alright."
"Ah!" Sun's mother reached for another apron hanging onto the refrigerator. "Lillie, would you like to join us? I bet you would enjoy eating something you made yourself."
"I would be delighted to!" Lillie replied. "If that is okay with Sun."
"Sure, you can join."
Lillie nodded. "But first…um…"
Sun looked over and saw that Lillie was hesitantly reaching for her bag. He knew what was contained inside, and had to say something to help her. "Mom, is it okay if we let our Pokémon play in the house while we cook?"
"As long as they know not to be disruptive, just like Meowth."
On cue, the house Meowth approached them and looked at Lillie curiously. "Meow?"
"Thank you," Lillie said. "Nebby, you can come out for now."
"Pew!" sounded Lillie's bag. As she widened the opening of her bag, a Pokemon rushed out and happily floated in the air.
"Oh, what an adorable Pokémon!" commented Sun's mother. "Its name is Nebby?"
"Yes," Lillie said. "Nebby is very active, so I have to keep a sharp eye on it."
"Don't worry, my Pokémon will keep Nebby occupied while we cook," Sun said, grabbing his pokéballs. He released all his companions at once, and they settled onto the house floor looking at him. From his possession came Litten, Rockruff, and Sylveon, looking curious and eager at their owner.
Sun kneeled down close to their height. "I've got to do something important for a while. Can you guys play with Nebby and keep an eye on it?"
"Litten!"
"Ruff!"
"Veon!"
"Pew-pew!" Nebby cried and floated around the nearby Pokémon.
Lillie set her bag down and put her apron on. Sun eagerly nodded and looked up to his mom. "All right, let's get started! What first?"
Led by Sun's mother, the two children followed the instructions to a general sugar-coated malasada recipe. They prepared the dough step by step, adding a new ingredient to the concoction bowl that the mother mixed easily with her strength. When the mix was finished, it had to rise for at least an hour. For this time, they took a break from cooking, with the mother tending to minor chores while the children and their Pokémon napped. Even after thirty minutes of cooking, the children grew weary, but were excited about the process.
As soon as the mother checked the risen dough, she called for everyone to return to the kitchen. Sun and Lillie witnessed the former's mother beat down and cut the dough into even pieces, and they were tasked to form them up into fat and flat rolls. They rolled up all the dough they were given as the mother prepared the pot of oil.
Sun's mother then demonstrated the procedure of how to deep-fry the dough in oil. Once a couple had been thoroughly fried, she set them down on a plate with paper towels so that the lingering oils could gradually drain. The children witnessed the process, and were ordered to put on mittens as a precaution before attempting to deep-fry the rest of the dough on their own. As soon as all of the dough had been cooked, they took turns sprinkling light sugar onto them, making sure that they coated them well enough to look like malasadas from the city shop.
When all of the rolled dough had been used up and sprinkled with sugar, they each tried one for their own. They all enjoyed the slightly crunchy texture, with a balanced sweetness complementing every bite.
"Wow!" Sun gasped, savoring the taste.
"Amazing," Lillie commented. "Such a simple process to make, yet it's so filling."
"Isn't it delicious to eat something you made on your own?" asked Sun's mother.
"Yes, it is," Lillie agreed.
"These are only traditional sugar coated ones, however," the mother added. "To make it one of those special cream-filled malasadas, we just do this." She grabbed a pastry injector that she had prepared on the side, and prodded a few malasadas with it. While making sure not to force the inside to be pushed out, she injected a sweet cream into them, and handed the children one of them to taste.
"Delicious!" Lillie exclaimed after bite.
"Yeah!" Sun agreed. "Hau would love this!"
Lillie looked to the plate of stacked malasadas. "Is it okay if I take some with me?"
Sun's mother nodded. "But of course! You helped make some."
"It'd be best," Sun added. "I have to make some fresh ones before we leave anyways."
"That's right; we leave to Akala Island in three days." Lillie nodded. "Best to make them probably a day before."
"I could, but I was shooting for the morning, since we leave at noon that day. The fresher, the better."
"Shall I help you when the time comes to speed it up?" asked Sun's mom.
Sun shook his head. "No, it's okay, I'll wake up early. Next time, I have to do it on my own. I know how now."
His mother grinned. "Alright."
Lillie was given a case of cream-filled malasadas to take with her. She waved good-bye and wished Sun good luck when the time came, and bid farewell for the time being.
Sun took the rest of the day to relax while replaying everything that he had witnessed while he was in the kitchen. He remembered how his mother vigorously whipped the dough as new ingredients were added to it, and how to entwine and cut them up evenly to make into rolls. It was a simple process enough. He only wondered if he had the stamina to keep up.
For the next couple of days, Sun focused on training his Pokémon for his island challenge, knowing that trying to make more malasadas would be a waste of ingredients. While keeping his efforts a secret, he even sparred with the boy he crushed on, delighted to see him each day before the deadline. However, each night, Sun did his best to replay the day he learned to make malasadas, and would even pretend to whip an imaginary bowl filled with thick dough in thin air himself.
On the night before departure, he daydreamed himself to sleep. Sun relished everything he enjoyed about Hau. He had the sweetest smile that he would always put up no matter the situation. Even if he lost Pokémon battles multiple times to Sun, he only took the defeats as optimistic motivation to get stronger, and Sun only fell harder for the boy's determination. He questioned who could ever dislike the kindest friend he had ever made in his life. Sun pushed to train harder for his island challenge, enough to impress Hau further. But he knew that wasn't enough, and so if he could appeal to things that Hau liked, he would have a better chance of developing a more valuable relationship.
The dawn of the departure day arrived, and Sun hastily washed up and headed to the kitchen to immediately begin cooking. His mother walked into the room unnoticed, but she left her son alone so that he could focus full effort on making malasadas filled with love and care from him. Sun devoted all the effort he could put in as he mixed and stirred, repeating the process many times until he reached the mixed dough's final stage, and let them sit and rise for a while.
Grains of yeast and flour, tiny shells and whites of eggs, and all sorts of confectionery were lying everywhere for the time being. Sun was fully consumed by his daydreams that he was silent and still at a dining chair for the most part of the hour he waited. He had his hands tied together with fiddling fingers, smiling without noticing how so infatuated and dedicated he became. Sun eventually realized he had to rest, but returned soon after seeing that the hour of waiting was almost up. Back at the workspace, Sun quickly formed the dough into the incomplete spherical shapes that he memorized as best as he could, and assorted them within a certain area on the counters. He soon transitioned into frying the dough, letting no distraction stop his pace. At times, he questioned his cooking ability, but did not bother to ask his mother for any assistance.
After all the dough was cooked, Sun found himself quickly sprinkling the malasadas with sugar while they were still warm. Then, he took the icing injector and filled all of them with an appropriate amount of sweet cream. He sampled one for himself, and found it to be delicious as before. Looking at the plate with stacked perfections, he let out a great sigh.
"Woo-hoo!" Sun exclaimed.
"Sun?" His mother poked her head through the deck door. "Something wrong?"
"No—I did it! I made them all by myself!"
"That's great, Sun!" she exclaimed.
Sun nodded, and quickly cleaned up the mess he made in the kitchen. He placed the malasadas in a large plastic bag, and set them safely aside. He retrieved everything he needed to go to the next island, and then warmed the malasadas a tiny bit with the microwave right before he departed. He made sure he had everything with him and waved his mother farewell as he headed for the city port.
Sun kept his hold on the malasadas tightly yet safe enough to not suffocate and crush them as he rushed over to the city. He hurried over to the docks as fast as he could, having a feeling that everyone was already there. From afar, he could see that Professor Kukui's boat was ready, with the owner making finishing touches to it. As he closed in to the dock, he saw Lillie and Hau waiting patiently.
"I'm here!" Sun exclaimed.
"Sun!" Hau and Lillie called out.
The boy huffed repeatedly as soon as he reached a stopping point, bending down to hide his heavy breaths. His two friends approached him casually.
"You didn't have to hurry," Lillie told. "We would have waited for you."
"I know, I just to meet up with you guys as soon as I could," Sun replied.
"What's the rush?" Hau asked.
"Oh, Hau…" Sun mumbled. He had only now noticed that the boy was standing close by, as he still bowed over. When he stood back upright, he revealed in his hands the gift that already watered the boy's mouth.
"Oh, are those—?!" Hau playfully tried to reach for them, but Sun kept them in his grasp firmly. He took a deep sigh, trying to find the right words to complement his gesture. Lillie watched with some secret enjoyment, and wished Sun good luck.
"Yep," Sun began. "These are malasadas."
"Wow! Can I have one?" he asked.
"You can have them all," Sun told.
"Whoa, really?! You're the best!"
Hau held out his hands, and Sun almost passed it to him. Right before he let go of them to place in Hau's possession, he breathed in one more time. "I made them for you."
The other boy paused, his smiling expression quickly changing to surprise. "You made them? All for me?"
Sun nodded. "All for you."
Hau looked down at the bag in amazement. He noted how they looked so crisp and refined just like a shop malasada. He opened the bag and took a bite out of one, his eyes widening after just a few chews. He then quickly devoured the single piece and held his cheek. "So good! Way better than Hau'oli's!"
The satisfied smile touched Sun's heart. The fuzziness welling inside him almost made him faint with relief, but he kept standing, hoping for to receive more gratitude from the boy so that he could enjoy it. Hau sealed the bag and looked back at his friend. "Why would you go as far as make them? You could have just bought some."
"Well, I—thought they would taste better if I made them," Sun said. "But I made them mainly because…"
"Hm?"
Sun looked away, almost panicking on his choice of words. He saw Lillie giving encouragement to him with a subtle nod. "…because I really treasure our friendship." Sun quietly sighed.
"Aw, dude! I could just hug you right now!" Hau opened his arms freely. Before he stepped forward, he tilted his head at the other boy. "Can I?"
Sun somewhat regretted that he hesitated on not admitting his truer feelings. However, a hug from his crush was just as a valuable, and so he opened his arms out for Hau to tightly embrace him. Sun froze in place even though his body grew warmer by the second, noting how ecstatic he was by being so close to Hau.
Without Sun's notice, Lillie stepped behind him and lightly high-fived Hau's palm, which was open for her in secret. They winked at each other too, right before Hau released his hold.
"Oye!" yelled Kukui's voice. "Are you kids ready to set sail?!"
Hau waved over. "Yeah! We're coming!"
Lillie went ahead of them and left the two boys behind for a moment. As the two took their time walking over, Hau held up the bag of malasadas in front of them.
"Say, Sun, I really appreciate that you made them all for me, but do you wanna eat them together after we land in Akala? Malasadas do taste better if you eat them with someone you love." Hau innocently smirked after his remark.
Sun glanced over to Hau, and smiled as bright as he could. He nodded. "I'd love that."