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“I can't believe I'm doing this with you.”
Two giggled, pulling a hand up over their mouth to cover their grin– they knew that Four wasn't particularly fond of seeing their joy and they weren't trying to make him any angrier than he already was. “Hey, someone had to help out, and you were the only other one in the kitchen!”
“Urghhh.”
Two was in the kitchen with their good friend Four, or at least they liked to think of him as that, though they knew Four's idea of their relationship was drastically different. Four couldn't stand the thought of the green number facing the counter beside them… and yet here they were, practically forced into the room to help with the task at hand– baking.
Two held a small pink sheet of paper close to their face, squinting their eyes to examine what could only be the recipe for the cake they planned to make.
“So…” Two began, following the instructions before them. “The recipe says we need flour next…!”
Four stood idly, paying no attention to Two. Two looked over to the right, at the counter in front of their baking partner, catching their eye on the bag of flour settled immediately in front of him.
“Four, can you hand me the flour?” Two asked, upholding their politeness, reaching their palm out and eyeing Four. They should've known Four wouldn't be as cooperative as they had hoped.
“Oh, this…?” Four finally reacted, grabbing the bag of flour. He held it over to Two, but before they could take it from him he quickly turned the bag upside down, pouring flour everywhere on the floor. The white powder-y substance poofed up, coating both Two and Four entirely with it.
Two jumped from the shock, arms raised up in the air, unable to believe Four would be so clumsy to have done that. “Four, why would you do that?!” Their eyes darted between the mess and Four's unphased demeanor as he placed the empty flour bag back on the counter.
Four shrugged with a subtle smirk plastered across their face, causing Two to realize that this was most definitely done intentionally.
“You're not helping at all!” Two grew frustrated, arms folded, facing the number with their eyebrows sunken down their face.
“If I’m not helping then I think I can just leave.” Four replied, monotonous, though grinning to himself. He brushed off the flour that poofed up onto him with his hands and began to slide away to leave.
Two groaned, pinching the space between their eyes, what would be considered the bridge of their nose given they actually had one. Then they grabbed Four's arm before he could leave the kitchen. “No, you can't.” Four tugged their arm gently to pull away but Two's grip stayed firm. “I want you to stay here until this cake is done, so… you're just making it take longer for yourself.”
Four couldn't believe Two was trying to keep him like this. He wanted to slap the green number's hand away from him and dramatically insist on leaving like he'd typically do. Who was he to listen to Two, anyway? After all the ways they'd wronged him in the past he felt that Two didn't deserve the respect of being listened to. Maybe this was something petty of Four to feel, but he usually didn't care one bit.
Though by looking over to Two's expression, a genuine worry coating their eyes, something confusing within Four urged him to stay. Maybe it had something to do with the way Two actually wanted Four to stay in their presence, something not many people– algebraliens or objects– wanted. Four couldn't say no to the attention. Or maybe it was the slow realization that Two really wasn't so bad… no, it definitely wasn't that last thing.
Regardless, Two was confusing. Four's occasional weakness to them was even more confusing. But he didn't have time to sort out these feelings right now.
“Fiiiine…” Four groaned, reluctantly giving in. Two smiled at the sound of his voice, removing their grasp on Four's arm. They hummed to themself as they used their magic to spontaneously collect all of the flour up from the floor, lifting it into the air and returning it back to its bag.
Four grumbled to himself seeing Two so easily clean up his mess. “If you could just do that then why did you even need me to hand you the flour?”
A grin stretched naturally across Two's face, now scooping cups of flour out from the bag to dump into the mixing bowl. “You're supposed to be helping.”
“You could've gotten X to help or something.”
Two stayed silent for a moment, clearly thinking of a response to combat Four. “But you never bake anything… you need the experience.”
“Why would I even need that?!” Four's arms folded.
Two shrugs absentmindedly, looking over the recipe to figure out what ingredient needed added next.
Four was always very difficult with Two, and consistently frustrating to be around. Two themself couldn't always find a reason why they wanted to keep him around, despite always doing so anyway. Something about his company felt so different than anyone else they'd ever been around… and admittedly there was something strangely desirable about it.
“Maybe X will want you to help them with baking in the future too… you'd help them, wouldn't you?” They eventually added.
Four thought for a brief second. “Yes…”
Two grinned enthusiastically. “So you can help me then!”
Four groans again. There was something annoyingly compelling about Two– something that brought an eventual softness to the way Four interacted with them. It was embarrassing for Four to not constantly uphold their resentment against Two, knowing that Two would only take advantage of this and continue asking Four to spend time with them in the future. But regardless, Four complies, even moving to stand a bit closer to Two– but only because it'd be easier to help them out that way, of course.
“Could you, um, carefully get me the eggs, Four?” Two asked, apprehensive that Four might just sabotage them again. But without hesitation Four quickly moved to the refrigerator to fetch the carton of eggs for Two, handing them off to them gently without a problem.
They collected the ingredients into the mixing bowl and combined them to create the cake batter without any further setbacks– other than Two playfully flinging a scoop or two of batter towards Four, to his disliking.
Once the mixing was complete, Two instructed Four to pour the batter into the pan and Four did just that– even being more careful than he typically would be while doing so. Four was now invested in creating this with Two at this point and Two noticed this, unable to help from feeling a warmth in their chest knowing that they were able to soften Four for a change and convince him into spending this time with them.
The cake was sent into the oven, leaving the baking pair left with no other task than to sit on some stools in the kitchen and wait as it baked.
“See? Was that so bad, Four?” Two asked, looking to Four for his reaction.
“Yes.” Four stated blankly.
Two rolled their eyes, very sure Four was just being dramatic. “Come on, you couldn't have really hated it that much…”
Four was silent for a moment. He truly didn't actually hate doing this– to his surprise– but for the sake of his ego he needed to pretend like he really did.
“I hated you flinging batter all over me.”
“That was an accident!” Two lied with a laugh. Their face warmed with a darker green blush.
Four rolled their eyes, rocking themself back and forth in their stool as they waited. They eyed Two, who seemed to sit in their own stool just as awkwardly as he was, fidgeting with their hands.
“Don't you normally just bake cakes by yourself?” Four piped up.
“Umm…” Two began, a nervousness washing over them. They sheepishly nod, leading to a settling confusion in Four.
“So why did you need someone helping you out, anyway?”
Two's eyes flicked around the room through their increased anxiousness, as if they were searching for a new conversation topic to try to avoid answering completely.
“Well?” Four pressed on, leaning in a little closer towards the sweating integer. He could tell he was making Two nervous and he was intent on continuing that until they spoke up.
Two sighs, rubbing their hand behind their head to sooth themself from the stress they'd been enduring. “I just thought… it'd be nice if we did something together.”
Four's expression flattened, followed by an irritated change in his face. “You… didn't just want anyone helping, you specifically wanted me…?!”
“Well I know you have your, err, grudges with me… I hoped that the two of us spending some time together would help lessen that unneeded tension…!” Two explained themself, nervously laughing under their breath afterwards.
Four responded to Two with a low growl. Calling his rightful disdain for the number ‘unneeded tension’ hit a nerve in him for a moment, before being struck with another feeling– that warmth that overwhelmed them sometimes when they thought about Two. Why he ever felt this strange way about them was beyond him; it made him feel mushy and weak and he couldn't behave like this around Two!
Four collected themself, their facial expression resuming a more neutral stare. “You're odd.”
Two laughs a bit nervously, honestly expecting a much worse response from Four than that. Was he suppressing his anger for them? That was cute… though they'd never tell him that.
“Maybe if this cake tastes good I'll think about doing this again.” He huffed as an addition.
Two gasped, regaining their bubbly confidence. “Really?! Have you never tried my cake, Four? Oh, it's delicious! I'll give you a big slice and–” They rambled on excessively, their words eventually blending together as Four tuned them out.
Four sighed quietly to himself, clutching at his chest subtly. That warm feeling… something unexplainable to the integer that caused him to, in no better explanation, sabotage himself into spending more time with Two, the number he absolutely could not and would never stand to be around. He could only wonder why they did tolerate them lately…
Ding!
“Cake's ready!” Two sang, pulling open the oven door to blast the two of them with the heat trapped inside. They slid the cake pan out using their magic with a wag of their finger, placing it down on the stovetop in front of them.
They blew off the cake, somehow cooling it off enough just from that, so they could ice it swiftly for their baking partner who watched in what could almost be described as… admiration? Four couldn't help but mentally applaud the skill Two demonstrated as they iced the cake– they knew what they were doing and they were good at it. Two was good at a lot of things, and it made him nervous.
With a blink, Two had the cake fully iced and sliced, planting a large piece of it on a plate and sliding it across the kitchen counter for Four. They pulled up another stool across from Four and took a seat, resting their head in their hands with a content smile.
“If it's good we'll get to do this again, yeah?” They asked confidently, glancing at the cake slice and then back up into Four's eyes.
“Y-Yeah.” Four gulped, breaking into a sweat of his own, the sweet smell of the cake surrounding the numbers, drowning him. Shakily, he picked up his fork and took a piece from the slice, moving it up to his mouth. Two watched intently, all the more stress-inducing. He took the piece into his mouth and chewed.
The cake is delicious.