Day 2.5: A Piece of Cake
"I still don't understand how this will help me become a better Keyblade wielder, but…" Sora pulled out his chair and took his seat. There was a giddy, childlike grin on his face as he surveyed the table. At the center of it sat a triple tier, chocolate cake adorned with fresh strawberries and elegant frosting swirls. It sat on a ceramic, decorative plate, which sat on a white, lace doily. At the cake's left was an elegant teapot that steamed lightly. There were teacups that matched scattered on the table. Additionally, there was a pyramid of colorful cupcakes in flavors ranging from red velvet to vanilla to chocolate to lemon-lime. There were muffins and cookies galore and a miniature chocolate fountain beside a basket of strawberries.
For a prolonged minute, Eraqus, who sat directly across from Sora, said nothing. He seemed to be studying the setup. Then, he lifted his gaze to Sora.
Sora, taking this as his cue to dig in, extended a hand towards an especially delicious looking pastry. Before he could even touch it, Eraqus halted him.
"Not yet," Eraqus said, and almost immediately Sora's hand returned to his lap. With big, confused eyes, Sora looked back to his Master and awaited the approval to begin eating.
"The storm lasted longer than I thought it would. For this reason, today's original lesson must be postponed until tomorrow. Still, as you know, I despise wasting any time…"
Sora frowned. He didn't like where this was going.
"Today you will learn patience."
Sora protested almost immediately. He had his gaze focused on that cake. "But I already know how to be patient."
There was a faint smile on Eraqus's face. "Is that so?" he asked, to which Sora nodded. Eraqus hid his amusement. "Then think of this as an opportunity to put it into practice."
Sora begrudgingly looked away from the cake and over to Eraqus. "Okay, Master. What do I do?"
"Before we can even begin, sit up straight and remove your elbows off the table." His tone was slightly annoyed. He closed his eyes as if he couldn't bear to watch Sora devoid of proper manners.
Sora, who hadn't even noticed his poor table manners, witnessed a sudden flashback of his mother telling him the same in an almost identical tone. "Sorry," he mumbled as he straightened and brought his arms down.
Eraqus opened his eyes. Looking satisfied, he continued. "Patience, as you know, is a virtue. You cannot always rely on doing things right away. Sometimes you will need time to think, time to strategize, time to simply wait. Therefore, that is what you will practice right now."
Sora absent mindedly shook his head. "You want me to do nothing?"
"I want you to wait," Eraqus corrected.
"That doesn't sound so bad," Sora insisted, more so to assure himself. "I can wait to eat."
Eraqus reached for a teacup. "Ah, but I haven't disclosed all the details yet, Sora."
Sora grimaced. He really disliked where this was going.
The Master poured the tea. The sweet, sweet aroma filled the air within seconds. "You will wait for me to finish eating before you can begin."
Sora blinked. "Huh?" he asked, demanded even.
Eraqus said nothing more and took a sip. He closed his eyes.
"Master Eraqus-"
"Patience, Sora."
"But I-"
Eraqus sliced the cake and placed a fluffy piece on his plate. "You may give up and join me whenever you wish." He flashed a smirk, knowing that the stubborn boy would never give up so easily.
"I can wait," Sora said swiftly. Confidently. "It'll be a piece of cake!"
The unintended pun caught the Master off guard. He paused before taking a bite out of his cake.
Day 2.8: A Toast
Sora impatiently tapped his fingers against his empty plate as he watched the Master blissfully eat cupcake after cupcake. At the rate Eraqus ate in, Sora calculated that there would be approximately zero cupcakes left for him by the time Eraqus finished.
With that in mind, Sora watched as the cupcake pyramid dwindled gradually. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. How could Eraqus, such a swift, agile fighter, have so much room in his stomach for this many sweets? How could he eat so much?
No fair, Sora thought bitterly. He's hogging it all!
Sora tried closing his eyes. If he didn't see him eat, perhaps the burning temptation would leave. But as soon as he shut his eyes, his other senses seemed to suddenly enhance. He could suddenly smell the sweet fragrance, hear the soft muching.
His eyes shot open. "Master Eraqus," he said, speaking politely. "How much more do you have to eat?"
Eraqus froze like a deer caught in headlights. He held a silver fork in one hand and a knife in the other. He finished chewing and swallowed before responding. "I am sorry, Sora," he said as he shamefully placed his silverware down on the table. "I always tend to get carried away when I do this." He cleared his throat after briefly reminiscing. "You may eat," he said, gesturing to the remaining desserts.
Sora grinned. He rapidly reached for a golden cupcake. "How was that?" he asked as he stuffed his face. "My patience, I mean."
Eraqus merely smiled. "You endured longer than I could ever hope to achieve," he commented as he poured tea for both himself and for Sora. "And my previous students all gave in within the first ten minutes."
The Master and pupil clinked teacups in a toast.
"So I declare a job well done, Sora," he said.
Sora grinned widely. "I thought you'd never stop eating!" He laughed.
The Master chuckled, somewhat embarrassed. "We all have our weaknesses, Sora…"
Sora placed two sugar cubes in his tea. "Did you and your students have tea parties often?"
Eraqus brightened. "Master Aqua enjoyed baking. Ventus and I enjoyed sampling."
"And Terra?"
Eraqus just shook his head. "He always disliked anything too sweet, but he did enjoy the occasional nut based dessert." After explaining, he reached for a nut muffin.
Sora laughed a bit. "Riku's the same way!"
Eraqus grinned. "They haven't a clue as to what they are missing." Before taking a bite out of the muffin, he paused. His smile disappeared. "Sora?"
"Yeah?"
He looked mildly concerned. "Prepare well for tomorrow."
Sora took notice of the way the Master spoke. He made his best effort to appear serious as he nodded dramatically, but it was difficult to take a boy with a stuffed face and crumbs falling from his mouth seriously. Eraqus just shook his head at the sight.
A/N: You all waited 2+ months for an update, and THIS is what I give you!? #noragrets #someragrets #alltheragrets
In all seriousness, I wanted to give these two guys a nice, super light hearted drabble for once. I'll update soon with a real chapter that I've been working on! I hope that it's a great one and well worth the wait! I've just been having trouble with it. I'm so sorry. For now...have this? (I wrote it when I was hungry and too lazy to get out of bed to eat!)
The idea came from two places: one, from Guest of Honor (you know who you are) who emailed me with the request of "Eraqus liking sweet stuff" which was inspired greatly by the BBS novels. Secondly, from that one time I wanted more pizza at a school pizza party, and the lady told me "Not yet" only for me to return with an empty plate and for my friends to roast me about it. :) shoutout to that lady! You're the real MVP.
And oh YEAH! The one year anniversary of this fic is coming up on September 8! I want to have something done for that day, but I don't know what what yet. Maybe nothing! Lol I jut felt the urge to point it out.
Thank you all for your patience. Xoxooo
