It was already evening when the door was flung open. "We're home, idiots!" Lumina yelled as Mina and she walked into the foyer.
"Hey, you two, find anything?" Xander asked, walking in from the living room. Lumina shook her head.
"Guards found us again. Had to beat them up and run, though, lately, they seem to be getting closer and closer to our base. Just the general direction I guess," Lumina said, but then lowered her voice, "...Does this conversation seem familiar to you guys at all?" She asked quietly.
The four of them looked at each other, knowing exactly what Lumina was implying, "In a way, yes. But let's not jump to conclusions, especially with the...Chest pain or whatever it is," Xander said quietly, "I mean, it might just be that the guards started noticing where we're coming back to. Has anyone been running directly to the base?"
"No, actually. I checked with everyone, they've all been coming back here using different routes," Kaedan joined the three others in the foyer.
"Then they may be tracking us or somehow, they have knowledge about where we are—" The four of them turned quickly towards the kitchen as they heard the fire alarm, and then a yelp. Running into the kitchen immediately, the situation they were faced with made Kaedan and Mina keel over with laughter.
Owen had fallen off the kitchen counter, and he groaned as Fenix pulled him back up. Risále and Leon were rapidly trying to put out the fire which engulfed the stove. Lumina, while sighing, grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed it, also making sure to hit all four teenagers in the process.
"Hey!" Leon protested as he coughed, "Bitch, what was that for?"
"That's what you get for destroying my kitchen," The woman glared at them as Mina cackled, watching Lumina put the fire extinguisher down.
Mina placed both hands on her hips. "Okay, so, what exactly happened here?" The four teenagers looked at each other, and then simultaneously, Leon, Owen, and Fenix stepped back. Risále turned around and glared daggers at the three boys.
"I swear I will get you all back for this," She muttered under her breath, while the other three adults other than Mina stifled their laughter, "So, we were trying to bake cookies...And we failed. Horribly, in fact," Risále said.
Mina snorted, "Well, no fucking duh," She laughed, "Cookies, huh? Yeah, that's doable, right, Lumi?" She turned to Lumina.
Lumina shrugged, "I don't see any problem with it," She replied.
"Yay, I can bake cookies for the first time! Uh, possibly. I may have baked cookies before I got whoosh amnesia wiped but you know. We don't know," Risále shrugged.
They all stared at her, "Hold on, you've been here for how many weeks and you haven't had the ritual cookie-baking experience?" Xander said, seriously.
Risále looked at all the others, "I'm sorry, what now? Is that some kind of cult initiation method? And if it involves cookies, can I please join the said cult?"
Leon rolled his eyes and slapped her shoulder, "No, not a cult, you're so dramatic. Apparently, there's a tradition that for every new person who joins the group, they do a group baking session."
"Can it be called a ritual when it's only happened two times before—Never mind, I said nothing, yay baking!" Fenix cheered nervously at the glare Mina gave him.
"Right. Okay, getting back on topic, let's do this. Looks like we're making cookies. Honestly, you four, if you'd told us earlier, Xander and I would have helped as well," Kaedan said, grinning.
"Yeah, but you four, go change. You look absolutely ridiculous," Lumina said sternly.
Leon glared at her, "And who's fault is that?" He muttered as Risále grabbed him by the arm and dragged him off, following Owen and Fenix who had already gotten a headstart.
When they all returned, Xander, Kaedan, Lumina, and Mina were standing on the counter, with Lumina, scrolling on a thin tablet, "Hey, are you all good with classic chocolate chip cookies?" She asked.
"Well, it's really up to Risále since we're doing this mostly for her," Leon replied, looking over to the woman.
She smiled, "Sounds good to me, you guys got the recipe?" In response, Lumina turned the tablet so the younger ones could see it as well.
"Okay, so Owen and I will get the sugars," Fenix said, scanning the list on the tablet screen.
"I've got the butter," Mina said as she walked back from the fridge, a covered box of butter in her hand, "I'll just soften it a bit," She moved towards the microwave.
Leon ducked away for a moment, opening a cabinet. When he saw what was in there, he grinned.
He grabbed a measuring cup and filled it to the brim with all-purpose flour, "Hey, guys…" He turned and only half of them seemed to realize what was going to happen before he flung the flour in their direction. Kaedan and Xander ducked away and Owen did a full drop to the ground before rolling away. Mina, Fenix, and Risále realized a bit too late but they generally managed to avoid getting too much flour on them.
But it did hit someone directly, "Oh, child. Oh, sweet summer child. You are about to die today," Xander whispered from behind Leon, who was already panicking.
"Leon…" Lumina said deadly calmly, mostly covered in flour. Risále wasn't sure how someone could still look hot while covered in flour but somehow, Lumina managed it.
"Lumi, please. Cookies? For the cookies?" Mina asked.
"No," Lumina said, no hesitation in her voice. The woman was out for revenge.
Mina sighed, "Fine. I guess this is what we're doing. I swear to God, this manages to happen every fucking time," She shook her head as she raised her stick of butter. Suddenly, a pack of chocolate chips flew in from out of nowhere, skimming Mina's head, and hitting Fenix in the face.
"Oh, hell no, I was holding back because of last time but if I knew this would happen again, I would have started it myself!" Fenix growled as he grabbed a plastic spoon and tossed it at the person who flung the bag of chocolate chips.
"Missed me!" Risále yelled as she ducked behind Leon. Suddenly, she felt a bunch of flour fall on her head.
"What the fuck?" She cussed, batting the powder off of herself before turning to see Kaedan cackling so hard he was on the ground while Xander held the bag of flour triumphantly over her head.
Suddenly, an unopened bag of caster sugar hit Xander in the chest and he simply looked down at it, confused. He picked it up before showing it to the person who threw it to him, "...Did you forget to open this?"
Owen shrugged, "Listen, I don't know who's going to have to clean up this mess after but if we rock-paper-scissors it, I'm going to make it easier on myself in case I end up having to clean."
Fenix patted his shoulder, "Smart thinking, Owen," Then he moved closer to Owen.
"...Fenix? What are you planning?" Owen asked, backing away cautiously. Fenix was unpredictable, in times like this, he could be either on his side or against him. Suddenly, sugar rained down on his head.
"Are you fucking kidding me?! I just said why I didn't want to pour an open bag of sugar and you do it—Fuck you!" Owen yelled, betrayal on his face as he shook sugar off of him. By the time he had looked back, Fenix was already a safe distance away from him, laughing his head off. "Oh, you asshole!" Owen yelled as he grabbed a handful of sugar and tossed it at Fenix.
Then Lumina chucked a plastic spoon at Mina who in turn, threw a bag of frosting at her. Leon was running from Risále, who had chased him after having chocolate chips thrown at her. Kaedan jumped onto Xander's back and dumped cinnamon on his head while his boyfriend dropped him and opened a full bag of rice on his head.
How rice got involved, they had no idea.
It was about twenty minutes later when they had all calmed down that Risále spoke, "So, that was fun… She panted, "I'm assuming I wasn't actually meant to get cookies out of this?" Leon simply shrugged.
"When I started this, I didn't think it would get this chaotic. Even though we still kind of had a food fight last time, I still got cookies."
Mina opened up a cabinet and smiled, "Oh, would you look at that?" She pulled out a box of cookies.
"I forgot we made those last week. Leon managed to somehow set fire to the water that day. I still think we should try and recreate that because what the fuck," Lumina laughed as Leon looked down, embarrassed. Mina handed the biggest one to Risále.
"...This is...Delicious....Holy shit...." Risále devoured her cookie, "Hey, Leon, Lumina, you guys absolutely have to make more of these. If that involves setting the water on fire, I will literally bring a hose and you can set as much of it on fire as you'd like."
Leon laughed, "Yup, you're fitting in just fine with us, Risále. We're glad to have you."
Risále smiled softly, "I'm glad to be here."
Hours later, Owen and Fenix had already gone to sleep, and Risále and Leon were getting ready to go to their rooms as well.
"Tired?" Risále asked him, as she could see his eyes drooping.
"Yeah," He yawned, "Aren't you tired as well?" Risále smiled softly.
"Come on. Don't collapse on me, Leon. I can only get to my room once you fall asleep," She said softly. Leon simply nodded, leaning against her, his head resting on hers as his weight sagged onto her. Even though she was able to carry him pretty easily. He was pretty light for his build, which made Risále a bit worried. Was he not eating as much recently?
Seeing his eyes closing, though, she sighed before putting one arm around his back and one under his knees. He was really easy to carry, and Risále wasn't sure if that was by her strength or by his weight. She got them over to the door, as she remembered that Leon had actually put something on his door so that Risále could tell where they were. She had to stifle her laughter as she saw the shiny star sticker on his door.
"Now, that's adorable," She said to herself. She carried him into his room and tucked him into his bed. Leon's eyes fluttered open, but he was so tired that he didn't even recognize where he was, "Shh, just go to sleep. Good night, Leon," She whispered.
Risále heard someone knock gently on the door, and she turned to see Mina there, "Hey, is he asleep?" She asked.
"Barely," Risále responded.
"Alright, you should go get some rest too. It's been a long day," Mina said softly, and Risále nodded before leaving the room.
"Mina?" Leon asked, sleepily looking at her.
"I'm here Leon. I...I know something is up with you. In general," Mina said, and Leon's eyes widened. She continued, "We all kind of know—Well, aside from Owen, Fenix, and Risále. I'm not going to ask, but we can tell that you know something that we don't. I think you've noticed it, too. Something is off, isn't it? You have your reasons for not talking about it, and I might even have a clue into why. I know that it's...Painful to even think about it. Just know that you can talk to me, Lumi, Kaedan, and Xander if you need us," He nodded and she hugged him before leaving his room.
"I really am sorry. I wish I could tell you all," Leon said quietly.