Title: Don't Forget the Oven Mitts!
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts II
Characters: Naminé, Roxas
Table: #1
Prompt: #78 – Kitchen
Word Count: 1017
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Naminé, Roxas, and chocolate chip cookies.
Author's Notes: Shameless fluff.
There was a kitchen in Castle Oblivion, and that was the only place Naminé was allowed to go…with supervision of course. She liked it when her supervisor was Axel. He always made the baking of her cookies faster even if they did come out a little burnt on the edges. She was sure that he liked supervising her as well since he always got half of the cookies as payment. Today was different though. Naminé didn't know what was wrong with the Organization, but they had all seemed very preoccupied and even shooed her off to the kitchen…without supervision.
Nearly elated with glee, Naminé brought out the cookie dough she had put in the day before when she had come down with Larxene. She hadn't felt like making chocolate chip cookies then, but now she did. Giggling softly, she tried to reach the cupboards where the chocolate chips were head. Frowning when she didn't reach them, Naminé looked around for the stool she usually used. It wasn't there.
"I'll help!"
Naminé yelped when she found herself being lifted up around the waist. "Roxas!" she exclaimed, closing her eyes tightly. "I was just looking for the stool…"
"You're heavy, Naminé!" the boy whined. "Go ahead, and just grab them already."
Naminé succeeded in getting the chocolate chips from the cupboard and pulled the bag open, dumping the entire thing in the bowl of cookie dough. Luckily, it was a big bowl, but still the chocolate chips seemed to be overwhelming the cookie itself.
"Do I get some?" Roxas asked, moving forward with a finger poised to swipe some of the cookie dough.
"Not until they're done!" Naminé squeaked, smacking Roxas' wrist. He gaped. She blushed.
"You just…smacked me?" he asked, marveling that sweet, fragile little Naminé had actually stood up for herself. "Do I still get some cookies?" Roxas pouted adorably.
"S-s-sorry! Of course! All of them!" Naminé exclaimed, blushing furiously and cringing slightly. She couldn't believe that she had smacked Roxas. She had actually hit him! Stirring the cookie dough, she found her arm getting quite tired. Blinking slightly, the girl was surprised when Roxas took over and murmured something about Naminé getting the oven ready or something.
"Right!" Naminé said, scrambling to preheat the oven. Pretty soon, she found herself leaning slightly on the counter and gazing dreamily at Roxas. When he looked up and caught her gaze, she immediately shifted it to the cupboard above him and hoped that her face wasn't flushed. What was she doing? Naminé scolded herself mentally and put the cookies in the oven.
There was a comfortable silence as Naminé and Roxas waited for the cookies to bake. It wouldn't take that long as the oven had been…fixed…by Axel some time before when he came to make cookies with Naminé. Now it cooked twice as fast which was nice, but sometimes it left Naminé's cookies with burnt edges or uneven baking. She always scowled at that, but Axel would always tweak her nose and simply grin. She guessed that her scowls weren't that intimidating.
"Want some sea-salt ice cream?" Roxas asked, rummaging in the fridge. "I asked Axel to buy some more the next time he was out, but I bet he forgot about it. That lazy bum. Ahah! He actually remembered." Continuing to mumble to himself about Axel and his unique qualities, Roxas split a bar of sea-salt ice cream in half and handed one piece to Naminé.
She licked at it cautiously, cringing slightly at the first taste but soon devouring it with gusto. She couldn't remember when she had last eaten. Of course, Nobodies didn't need to eat, but strangely Naminé still felt pangs of hunger when she went without eating for long periods of time. Of course, she had never told anybody in fear of being experimented on even more.
"Do you like it?" Roxas asked, observing Naminé keenly.
"Yeah," Naminé said quietly, licking at what was left before throwing the leftover stick into the trashcan. "It's nice. It's…two things at once."
"Speaking in riddles again?" Roxas asked, hoisting himself up onto the counter and leaning back against the cupboards.
Naminé giggled softly. "You know you're not supposed to do that, Roxas," she chided gently. The ding of the oven broke off Roxas' reply, and Naminé blindly scrambled for the cookies and dropped the pan. She had forgotten oven mitts.
Thankfully, Roxas was there to save the day with oven mitts which he had slapped on quicker than the eye could see. He caught the pan of cookies with his great reflexes, set them on the counter, stripped off his oven mitts, and rushed to Naminé. "Ack! Naminé, are you okay?" Roxas exclaimed, blowing air over the girl's hands and then dragging her to the sink. "And I thought I was dumb."
Naminé's lip trembled, and Roxas hastily tried to amend his statement.
"I mean! Not that you're dumb! That was just a stupid thing to do, but you're not stupid, Naminé! In fact, you're one of the smartest people I know."
"Thank you," Naminé said quietly, looking at her hands. They weren't burned too badly, courtesy of her quickly dropping the cookie pan. She whimpered slightly. Roxas cringed and took her hands between his, blushing furiously. He kept them there for a short time while the cookies cooled and hoped that his hands would serve to cool hers down a bit.
"I think the cookies are cool by now," Naminé stammered and took one, finding that her hands only slightly throbbed now. She picked up a cookie and bit into it. The chocolate chips were still melted, leaving sticky traces on her face, and she sighed in delight. She loved making cookies, but she loved eating them more.
"You're so cute, Naminé," Roxas said, sighing and stuffing an entire cookie into his mouth. "And you cook really well. Wuah…"
Naminé smiled and handed him another cookie. "You know. Maybe we should…cook together some other time," she replied quietly.
"I'd like that," Roxas mumbled, smiling widely. "We should cook together all the time…"