Work Text:
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"Rin, Rin, Rin, Rin."
Rin's eyes twitches as he continued writing his home work in french. "What the hell do you want?" He finally concedes.
"Come on! Bake with me, please? Pleaseeee?? With a cherry on top?" Charles begs. Tugging on his sleeve pathetically. "Loki said you shouldn't be cooking. Remember?"
"But come on! Please! It's for Loki! And he won't mind too much if it's for him."
Oh, right.
It's been at least half a year now since he had been to France. He'd been sharpening his french to have conversations with Charles and Loki. It had pleased the elder. And the blonde had cried while whining about how 'Rin was so sweet'.
They finalized Rin's France Citizenship and got him into a school, and Rin— alongside Charles— had been recommended into the France U-20 Team.
It was difficult, Rin supposed. He was stared often as Rin hadn't had the smoothest French when he first arrived. Of course, he's way better at it now. But they have been mostly communicating via english.
Although that never meant they didn't have conversations in French occasionally.
"Rin!! Please, come on!! Just bake with me. If Loki asks, Ill just say i begged you and nagged you until you agreed!"
yeah, because that's exactly what you did, dumbass. Rin snorts. "And if that doesn't work?"
"I'll say I blackmailed you!"
"He'd ask for the blackmail too, dumbass." Rin lightly tapped the blondes forehead who whined. "Come on! Please, please, please? Won't it be fun?"
"Fine."
"Really?!"
"Yeah. But you will owe me a favor."
///
(NOTE: I COPIED THIS FROM GOOGLE. DO NOT TRY!! I DON'T BAKE!!)
"How do we do this?" Charles asks in question, rubbing his chin as he looks at the instructions. "Add the butter into the oven?"
"That says batter, you idiot. You're on the fifth step already." Rin chides. Grabbing the paper instead to read.
"Well, be the one who has dyslexia!" Charles huffs. "I'd rather not." Rin grimaces.
Rin looked over the steps. Might as well prepare first. "Charles. Preheat the oven to.. 350°F."
"550°F?" Charles questions. Rin hears the click of a microwave.
"NO!"
Rin had preheated the oven by himself. Charles with anything that could cause a fire or explode was.. deadly. No wonder Loki banned him from cooking.
"Charles. Take out the butter, eggs, and milk." Rin says. Reading from the paper. "Wait, why am i doing all the work?"
"Because I'm reading and i didn't wanna be here in the first place."
"Okay, then what?" Charles asks. Placing them on the counter. "We have to measure the dry ingredients.. Let me see.."
"Alright, whisk together 1 ½ cups flour, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, and a pinch of salt..."
"WAIT, YOU SAID SALT?!"
"Oh my fucking God. Charles. What did you put inside?" Rin asks in horror. "Uhm.." Charles hums innocently. "What did you put?!"
"Pink food coloring.."
"That doesn't even LOOK or SOUND like salt!"
"I have dyslexia!"
"Dyslexia is for written texts you absolute DUMBASS! AT THE VERY LEAST LIE BETTER!"
"The batter is supposed to be thick, right?" Charles asks. "Yeah. It is thick. You're just stirring wrong."
"How in the hell do you stir wrong?!" Charles squeaks. "Oh my fucking gosh. Stir like this and stir FASTER." Rin grabs his hand to help him stir the batter.
"Charles, not that fast!"
"I'm not! I'm at.. Moderate speed!"
"Charles, you spilled PINK batter over my clothes!"
"Whatt?? I dunno whaddya mean."
Rin placed the the batter in the oven. After half an hour. Rin twitches. He doesn't bake often. The last time he baked was with Sae for a project..
Sae.
Oh, he didn't really wanna be thinking about him right now. But his mind seemed to run in a way to always make him remember about Sae.
"Rin, look!" Charles says with a childish grin on his face. The batter in a horrendous star shape. Rin eyes catch on the batter on the tip of Charles's nose.
"You're so messy." Rin mutters. But he doesn't put bite in it. He softly wipes the batter away. "Careful. Don't get any of it on your clothes. It'll be a son of a bitch to clean."
"Hehe. Rin is swearing."
"Loki swears too!"
The cake was.. Surprisingly decent.
Although it was pink.
"How about we pray that Loki likes pink?" Charles asks. Looking over the cake like a mad scientist scrutinizing an experiment. "Lets do it." Rin says solemnly under his breath.
The kitchen was a mess. There was a mysterious mix on the counter. And there was bright pink food coloring that stained Loki's precious counter.
Charles's silly hand writing in bad spelling:
COGRANTS LUKI!!!
"is it good?" Charles asks. Still holding the whipped cream. "I think it needs sprinkles." He says softly. "Does Loki even like sprinkles?"
"Man, i don't know." Rin shrugs.
"Loki really is gonna beat our ass." Charles says. Looking at the remnants of their battle in the kitchen. "It's horrendous." Rin mutters.
".. It was worth it, though." Rin admits quietly. Any lower and it would barely possible to even have heard. Charles heard, though. He always did.
The younger gave a toothy grin. "You're the best big brother in the world."
Rin froze.
He doesn't think Charles saw that small shiver that rang through his body. That quiet flinch that should barely be possible. The best big brother in the world. He said that too, once upon a time.
I won't be like Sae. Rin vowed in his head.
He's nothing like Sae. Charles thought.
///
Loki came home after a long soccer match.
He'd expected a fight, maybe an argument, or Charles annoying Rin. Hell, he was even expecting Charles to throw his plushies at Rin just for the Japanese to notice him.
(Yes. That has happened before, Loki can confirm.)
But he came to a dark house. Well, dark. Before a candle lit up. And a voice that sounded suspiciously like Charles started to speak.
"Thou entered my sacred hearth?!"
"That's overdramatic." Rin says with a deadpan voice. Loki turns on the light. Charles was holding a cake. On top of it— a text.
'COGRANTS LUKI!!'
Loki did not cry.
He was a world class soccer player with a long career. The worlds most amazing soccer and France's prodigy. But..
"Holy shit. He's actually crying."
"See? This is your fault, Rin."
"Charles, i will shove this cake up your ass."
Loki calmed down a few minutes later.
They got some slices when he was able to talk without his voice being shaky. He looked at the cake to examine it— he wasn't eating anything that had laxatives in it because Charles decided to be a 'little silly'.
It was slightly overcooked. A little too crumbly. But it was made by Rin and Charles. And that was more then enough.
"Why's it pink?" Loki asks curiously. It's not like he has some hatred towards pink. It's just a honestly curious question.
"Charles accidentally put in pink food coloring instead of salt. Don't ask me how he mistook it." Rin says. Voice still deadpan.
"You little snitch!"
The two ended up throwing cake at each other. Their home became a little messy. But it also became warmer. Rin seemed to have that spark in him, and Charles has never been happier.
He's glad to have met Rin.
Perhaps in another universe, would Loki and Charles be able to still meet Rin again if Sae was actually not an asshole?
Loki knows he is selfish for this.
But he's glad that in this universe— he was able to have this little owlet in PXG.
"Nuh uh!"
"That's so childish!"
Perhaps Loki should intervene soon, but he could bask into the solace of his mind for a moment.