A/N: Man, I suck at crossposting... Anyway! I wrote this for Femslash February. Not set at any particular point because my memory of the timeline is pretty darn fuzzy; might not slot in anywhere at all, tbh. When the plot bunny for this one nibbled, though, I couldn't turn it away. Fun fact, I hit this word count (an even grand) entirely by accident and that's more pleasing to me than it necessarily ought to be. Enjoy!
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Numbuhs Three, Four and Five were making their way back to base from a donut run on a chilly and overcast autumn day, the latter two walking side by side as the former skipped on ahead in long hops. She'd left the shop as the only one whose hands were empty of their gains, but that hadn't lasted long.
Numbuh Five snickered into her hot chocolate, shaking her head as Numbuh Four slowly blinked himself out of a daze to find he had one donut and a fourth less than he should have in his hand. He shook himself like a wet dog and stared uncomprehendingly at the three-fourths of a donut he had left, the impression of someone else's teeth along the side. When a glance at the drink caddie he carried turned up nothing, he looked to Numbuh Five for answers. She smirked and shrugged, gesturing toward Numbuh Three with her cup– Numbuh Three, who was licking the caramel of Numbuh Four's turtle donut from her smile.
Numbuh Four looked from Numbuh Three to his donut to Numbuh Five and then went the circuit a few more times over. A couple times he glanced at the bag of donuts that Numbuh Five carried as if his missing donut might have ended up back in it somehow. Numbuh Five could practically see the wheels turning in his head as he pieced together what happened, progress marked by the rising color in his cheeks.
"Ah, shut up," Numbuh Four muttered, biting into what remained of his donut as though it had done him some harm. "I was just bein' nice by lettin' her have that, was all."
"That was nice of ya, alright," Numbuh Five said on a chuckle. "'Course, she was bein' awful nice to you first."
Numbuh Four almost choked on his next bite, more than anything from trying to snap back and swallow at the same time. Numbuh Five had just opened her mouth to make another remark when Numbuh Three interrupted with a sigh so loud that it was probably concerning some people the next block over.
"Wha's'up?" Numbuh Five asked, turning her attention from Numbuh Four's grumbling. She didn't jump out of her skin when she found Numbuh Three less than two inches from her, but it was a near thing. "Uh… Somethin' Numbah Five can do for you, or…?"
"I should've gotten a drink," Numbuh Three lamented like she'd lost a friend. "The donuts tasted so good but now I don't have anything to wash them down with."
Numbuh Five's quirked eyebrow was lost on Numbuh Three, who'd thrown her arms around her, and Numbuh Five hoped the shiver that started at the point where Numbuh Three breathed against her neck and ended at her toes was too.
"We did get you a drink," she pointed out, nodding her head toward the drink caddie that Numbuh Four helpfully held up for illustration; the only empty spot was the one where Numbuh Five's drink would have been. Not that Numbuh Three stopped nuzzling long enough to appreciate the sight. "Vanilla hot chocolate, remember? We had to wait for them to dig out more syrup because it didn't 'smell vanilla-y enough'?"
"Not that drink, silly," Numbuh Three said, pulling back just enough for Numbuh Five to see the pout she'd felt against her skin. The way Numbuh Three leaned away arched her body against Numbuh Five's and she was still close enough that their noses almost rubbed. "If I drink that to wash the donuts down, what will I drink back at base?"
"So, then, wash your donuts down when we get back to base," Numbuh Five said. She put a hand on Numbuh Three's hip with the intention of pushing her away, but ended up just kind of… keeping it there, like it was a hand rest. She could feel how warm Numbuh Three was even through the layers of her sweater and jacket.
"I know," Numbuh Three said, letting out a sigh that was almost a whimper; Numbuh Five thought she could just feel her pout against the side of her face. Then she leaned in for another round of nuzzling, murmuring right up against Numbuh Five's ear, "But I really wish I had something now."
The next thing Numbuh Five was aware of was walking down the street, Numbuh Four beside her and Numbuh Three a ways ahead, humming a meandering tune that drifted back to them on the breeze. In one hand she still clutched the bag of donuts but the other one was conspicuously empty, the ghost of the heat of her drink still whispering against her skin. She brought the hand up close to her face, confirming the loss and trying to puzzle out its cause. She glance back the way they'd come, but didn't spot it on the ground. She turned to Numbuh Four and found him smothering snickers behind a tight smirk, eyes dancing with a light that cast a shadow of something distrusting.
"Correct Numbah Five if she's mistaken," she said, "but she remembers having a drink in her hand…"
The smirk grew, loosing Numbuh Four's amusement in a sort of snorting huff. He gestured with the caddie, still with only one empty slot, toward where Numbuh Three was dancing to her own humming. There was a very familiar cup in her hand and she was licking foam from her smile. She caught Numbuh Five's eye and waved her free hand, giggling into her next sip.
If nothing else, Numbuh Five could say she figured it out faster than Numbuh Four had– and her skin was dark enough that it hid most of her blushing, too, though she felt her face go hot against the autumn air. She pulled up her shoulders and ducked her head, telling herself it was protection from the chill instead of from embarrassment.
"Ah, shut up," she muttered into the collar of her jacket. "Numbuh Five was just bein' nice, was all…"
