cupcake.
Cloud did not consider himself a master chef. He couldn't throw a few ingredients together and make a banquet. Well, he could, provided the banquet wasn't meant for actual ingestion. Despite this, Cloud could still cook. If it came from a packet, with good directions, Cloud would willingly make it. His most popular dishes came from the desert aisle, where he would find cake and pudding mixes, among other things, loaded in the trolley, no thanks to two young boys.
Sora and Roxas, fraternal twins adopted into the Strife-Leonhart household, had quite the sweet tooth at five years old. The two, who would throw amazingly coordinated tantrums if they didn't get their way, would pounce upon anything that looked chocolaty or colorful. To save himself the embarrassment on shopping day, Cloud would just put up with the two doing all of the unhealthy shopping for him.
Most times these packets would lay forgotten, left behind by the twins who discovered the wonders of television, or drawing on the walls. To distract them from such destructive (and annoying) behavior, Cloud would pull out the nearest box of cake mix, and wave it in front of the pair. Then, as if they'd both just seen the packet for the first time, they would drop everything they were doing to watch Cloud cook.
Today it was chocolate cupcakes on the menu.
As messy as the twins were when helping, Cloud wouldn't want anyone else to be there. Roxas did most of the work, leaning over the mixing bowl until it looked like he was about to fall in. Sora hung behind, craning his neck to try and see what he could, but would end up occupying himself with organizing the ingredients on the kitchen bench. Sometimes they would knock the bowl over, or spill too much milk into the mix, and they would all have to begin again, but no one seemed to mind.
This packet was more advanced than usual in that it required Cloud to use an electric mixer rather than let the twins tag-team stir. After rummaging through the cupboards, the blonde retrieved the white appliance, and plugged it into the wall socket. Having never seen the instrument before, four hands grappled to play with it, and Cloud had to hold it carefully out of reach.
"No," The blonde said, holding up one hand in a 'Stop' gesture.
There were twin expressions of heartbreak on both little faces, until Roxas piped up with a, "Why?" Sora nodded in agreement with what had been said, and both patiently awaited answers.
Deciding that saying the mixer was dangerous wouldn't work (it would probably encourage the duo), Cloud took a different approach, "Have you seen those little boys and girls who played with mixers?" The blonde asked, trying not to look smug about his idea. Rather he said it in a way that made it come across as a very secretive topic. Cautiously, Roxas shook his head, and Sora quickly followed suit, "Because it can cut off little fingers," Cloud continued, now in a whisper, not thinking of his statement as too crude for the pair. If he didn't want them playing with it, and actually hurting themselves, it would be the only real way.
It did work, as both sets of hands retreated, quickly held against their owners' chests. Both boys looked totally horrified by the machine, Sora creeping back and bumping into a cracked eggshell on the bench. Cloud put the beater into the bowl, turning it on low and beginning to mix everything together. He ignored the gasps from his two spectators, smiling slightly to himself. Lord knew the pair could get into enough trouble without having an electric mixer in the equation.
Neither boy relaxed until Cloud removed the beater from the mix, laying it so that the chocolate-covered fixtures dripped into the bowl. Sora took his chance to get off the bench when he could, dropping to the ground with a barely audible 'Oof', and Roxas joined him seconds later. Neither left the room, aware that they may soon get the bowl to clean up. That alone was more tempting than the possibility of lost fingers. Cloud had gone on a hunt for cupcake cases, and wasn't making much progress.
Leon chose this moment to enter the kitchen, curiously eyeing both boys on the ground. Both alternated between watching Cloud hunt through the cupboards, and the mixer sitting on the bench, ignoring their other guardian. Leon, whose current (and only) culinary achievement was "Shake 'n Bake" pancakes, wandered towards the bowl on the bench, intending to help out Cloud somehow. Despite the fact that his pancakes had turned out horribly mutilated (but edible), Leon made quite the handy assistant. The brunette took on cleaning the dishes most nights, to be helpful to Cloud who almost always cooked the meals.
"You need the mixer anymore?" Leon asked, turning to face Cloud's backside as he continued his fruitless search.
After a moment, Cloud replied with a "Nope," not bothering to remove himself from the cabinet.
Seeing his opportunity to help out, and possibly earn some alone time, Leon pushed a button on the mixer to eject both stainless beaters. He didn't notice Sora whispering something to Roxas, and the young blonde quietly agreeing. He turned to them both, holding the chocolate-covered objects out, offering them to placate the normally whiny kids.
Instead of his expected reaction, of eternal love and worship, both boys stepped back warily.
"Don't you want them?" Leon asked, waving his 'treat' and moving them closer for the twins to take.
Sora quickly ran out of the kitchen, screaming something about his fingers. Roxas gave his other adoptive father a wide-eyed look before fleeing, hoping to save his fingers too. There was a groan from within the confines of the cabinet, and Cloud extracted himself with a pained look on his face.
"What did you do?" The blonde asked, a little irritably, considering he'd just smacked his head on a shelf in shock. Sora screaming and bolting could do that to a person.
Leon turned back to Cloud and shrugged, unsure. He'd managed to clear the room, though, which had been his original intention.
Cloud seemed to finally understand (Sora yelling about his fingers had set into his mind by this point), and took both mixers off the brunette, smiling that slight secretive smile again.
"What?" The brunette inquired, missing out on something.
Cloud just shook his head, and returned to his cooking. He was surprisingly unaffected by his new assistant, who insisted on "accidentally" pushing Cloud's fingers into the mixture before helping clean them. At the rate he was going, there wasn't going to be any cupcakes.
Still, there were still plenty of mixes left in the pantry, and they did have a whole day ahead of them.
end.