Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. You're looking for a Mr. Kazuki Takahashi.
"The cookies are burning."
Joey Wheeler, his head propped up on one arm, rolled his, well, rolling pin across the table lazily. "I know."
Ryo Bakura, sitting opposite him at the table, flicked it back.
"Why don't you take them out of the oven?"Above them, the frantic sound of Téa's platform shoes hitting laminate flooring could be heard clearly, along with the soft buzzing of Yugi's helpful voice.
Joey yawned widely, passing back the rolling pin. "Cookies taste better burnt."
Bakura blinked his huge, chocolate coloured eyes at his friend. "Even oatmeal ones?"
"Especially oatmeal ones."
In the room down the hall from the kitchen, the buzz of two much louder voices seemed to be competing for volume.
Bakura blinked again as a brief tremor from the thin wall shook the mirror on the wall behind him. "Doesn't sound like Tristan and Duke are packing. Are they fighting?"
"Nah. Just goofing off, probably. Like puppies do. But with more venom."
"They should be more careful. You know what happens when mirrors break, don't you?"
"You get a nasty cut in your finger?" Joey suggested, as the wall vibrated again. "You should probably move, that mirror will give you a nasty cut in your head when those nimrods send it crashing down."
Bakura obediently shuffled into the next seat - picking up the leaflet that was previously on it as he did so. He skimmed over the title text - Domino High Earthquake Safety Bake Sale! - then glanced up at Joey.
"You and Téa didn't seem on good terms this morning," Bakura said, dropping the leaflet carelessly onto the table top, which shook again. Forget Bake Sales, there was an earthquake in here. Joey, who was now clutching the rolling pin in his fist and squeezing it like a stress toy, shook his head.
"We had a stupid fight."
"What happened?"
"She was telling me about that show she was going to do for her ballet…class…thing."
"Oh, yes."
"I got a new card from the game shop. A Secret Rare."
"Your luck is impressive, Joey!"
"Well, maybe not, because...uh, I suppose I went on about it a bit. I kept interrupting her when she was talking about her important dance thing, and she got mad."
"She damaged it?"
"Sort of. Not really, she just got annoyed and snatched it…well… we were on the school roof, and it was windy."
"Oh."
"Yeah. It flew right over the wire mesh. Not so lucky now, am I?"
"She must have felt pretty bad afterwards, though. It's admirable that you still came to help her with this bake sale."
"What can I say? I'm just such a nice guy." Joey shrugged. "It was…an accident." Bakura nodded.
For the next two minutes, silence reigned the kitchen. If you could call buzzes and trembling furniture and hasty footsteps silence. It was a nice silence though - peaceful. Content. Not at all an awkward silence between strangers but a calming silence between two friends who were probably just too exhausted from all the baking-
"Joey, the cookies are burning."
"I know."
"Why don't you take them out of the oven?"
"Ryo, we've been over this."
"JOEY!"
"…"
The sound of Téa's footsteps was much louder now - both Bakura and Joey were snapped right out of their lazy conversation as the girl burst through the door, wearing a surprisingly deadly expression on her usually calm face. Joey winced, remembering the Burger World incident. Since then, he'd learned to stay away from Téa when she had that I'm-gonna-kill-you look. The ketchup stain still hadn't gotten off the collar of his blue school undershirt.
Téa flung open the oven door, and was greeted by a huge cloud of black smoke. She shuddered against the sudden heat wave, slammed the door shut again, and stood up whilst spinning round at the same time to face her cringing friends. You could tell that girl was a dancer.
"It was an accident!" she yelled, her beautiful blue eyes ablaze. If looks could bake, Joey would be even more burnt than the cookies. Even Bakura would get his snowy hair dyed charcoal from the heat emitting from that stare.
"I…forgive you…?" Joey giggled nervously, his cheeks flushed.
"That's what you said yesterday!…How dare you…you revenge-seeking mother-"
"Téa!" Bakura interrupted. His voice was soft, as always, but it still managed to temporarily halt Téa's rant. "Everyone knows that cookies taste better burnt."
Téa put her head to the side in a moment of confusion - before hurling her flowery oven gloves at the white-haired boy and turning back to the oven.
"You're a good cook, Ryo, I trusted you to keep an eye on this dolt. Now look! You have to somehow bake double the amount of oatmeal cookies in half the time!"
Joey started to laugh - it was a nervous habit of his, he couldn't keep his cool in these situations. "But, Téa-"
He was interrupted by a small, black Frisbee-like disc colliding with his cheek. "OW! Darn it, that's hot!"
"Oh gee, maybe if you hadn't burnt it…"
Bakura freed himself of a mouthful of oven glove, and nimbly caught the next charred cookie that came streaking through the air towards his head. Bravely, he bit into it.
"Mmm…it's delicious…you were right Joey, it is especially the oatmeal…"
"You guys are idiots!" Téa threw her hands into the air in anguish, and stomped out of the kitchen. "I bet the other girls in my grade don't have to put up with this kind of nonsense…that's while they'll be bringing delicious cookies tomorrow while I…You know what, I'm glad I lost that card!"
Bakura turned in his seat as the door slammed shut, and flicked the rolling pin Joey had put back on the table as if their conversation had gone uninterrupted. He was still peacefully munching on the black wreck of a cookie - he seemed to enjoy it. "You did deserve the cookie throwing, but your rare card…"
"Don't worry, Ryo," Joey leant back comfortably, lacing his hands together and resting them lazily behind his head. "If you like that burnt oatmeal, you just wait until you try burnt chocolate chip."
Don't go burning your cookies, no matter what the story tells you! Especially not oatmeal.
Reviews really appreciated.