Chapter Text
It was a sunny morning in the grasslands. Every algebralian was enjoying the warm sun, some of them running around feeling the fresh air, and some of them just sitting, enjoying a good book. Every algebralian but Zero, they were just laying there, not enjoying the sun, or the cool air, just laying there, bored as can be.
He was burnt out. He needed a break from all his responsibilities for a little while, but he couldn’t seem to find anything to free his mind, all he could think of was all the stuff he should be doing. The other zeroes were probably somewhere causing chaos. Despite them being quintuplets, Zero felt like a single parent taking care of 4 toddlers who are constantly trying to kill each other.
‘Urghh I gotta find something to do..’ He thought to himself.
‘Something that’ll take a while.. A few hours. That should give me a decent break.’
‘Hm.. I have wanted to see Fifteen for a while. I’d need a good excuse to go there or she’ll probably just try to burn my face off.’
Zero pondered a plan of action for a little while before they finally landed on something.
‘Cupcakes! I could bake them some cupcakes. Two taught me how to bake them recently and Fifteen did have a sweet tooth back when they lived in the grasslands!’
Zero stood himself up from the grass and brushed off the dirt that had gotten on his hoodie, before making his way to the apartment building he, Six, Nine, and the other zeroes lived in, among the other algebralians who hadn’t gotten their own houses yet.
On the way they passed Six, who was playing cards with Five and Eight in the distance.
“Hey Zero! Wanna play with us?” Six shouted, waving their hand that wasn’t holding their cards, in the air.
“I’m alright! Whatcha playing though? Just curious,” Zero shouted back.
“Uhh Rummy, I think..” Six responded.
“Rummy? I thought this was poker.” Eight said, looking up from the cards with a confused expression.
“I thought this was go fish!” Five chimed in, equally confused.
“Well uh, you guys have fun!.. I guess.” Zero continued on walking to his apartment with his hands in the pockets of his hoodie.
Zero made his way into the building and up the many flights of stairs leading to his place. He walked up to his door and clumsily grabbed his keys out of his pocket. There really wasn’t much need for locking doors since everyone on the equation playground was pretty trustworthy, but Five suggested everyone start locking their doors once Fourteen started figuring out how to escape his cage.
Plus, the other zeroes would always invade Zero’s privacy just to piss him off. One time they walked in on him playing doki doki literature club and assumed he plays “cringy anime dating sims”, no matter how much he tried to explain himself.
Zero locked the door behind him and hung up his keys on the key rack. He took off his hoodie, bundled it up, and tossed it onto one of the barstools at the kitchen counter, before making his way into the kitchen.
They paused for a moment, trying to remember where they left the recipe card Two gave them.
He looked through the cupboards and found the recipe card tucked away in the back of one of them. He had to grab a fold up stool to reach it, since he’s pretty short, which the other zeroes loved to tease him about.
They gathered all their ingredients together and got to work.
It took them about 3 hours but they didn’t mind. Now they had an excuse to go see Fifteen! They finished frosting them with the crimson-coloured frosting they made and added some teal sprinkles.
He packed the cupcakes into a plastic food container he had and carefully placed them in his backpack. He put on his good hoodie, not the worn out one he usually wears, grabbed his keys, put on the backpack, and headed out the door, locking it behind him.
The walk to Fifteen’s cabin was a lengthy one, but it was worth it, at least, it was to Zero. He would get to see Fifteen! The thought of seeing her made his heart flutter. Her deep red eyes, her messy hair, but he had to snap out of his fantasies, the trip was going to take a while!
They barely remembered the way there, but they were determined to find it anyway.
- - -
After a long, long, long 4 hour walk, Zero FINALLY made it to the cabin. Well, he didn’t technically make it yet, but the dense forest was thinning out, which was definitely the work of Fifteen.
He walked a little further until he found a small clearing, with Fifteen’s signature “KEEP OUT” signs scattered along the path leading up to a not-very-inviting log cabin.
Zero made his way up the path to her cabin as his palms began to sweat. Partially because he was nervous to see her, but mostly because he was scared out of his skin that he would get burnt to a crisp without even being able to explain himself first.
They walked up onto the porch and looked at the “LEAVE ME ALONE”sign nailed to the door and gulped before placing three knocks on the door.
He heard some faint, angry mumbling from inside and footsteps coming up to the door. The door suddenly swung open and Zero now had the nozzle of Fifteen’s flamethrower pointed directly at his face.
“Can anyone on this mathforsaken planet read!? Look at the damn signs, idiot!” She spat.
The aggression in her voice scared Zero, that and the fact he had a weapon pointed directly in his face.
“H-Hey! S-Sorry I uh- Just wanted to- um!” Zero stuttered, unable to form a sentence as he began to blush.
“Oh for the love of algebra.. Just tell me what you want!” She lowered her flamethrower a bit, now pointing it more towards his chest.
“I made you cupcakes!” He blurted out, for lack of a better thing to say.
“..Cupcakes?” She tilted her head. She placed her flamethrower on the ground vertically and rested her elbow on the nozzle.
“..What kind?” She asked, noticing his backpack.
“Just vanilla, nothing fancy.” He responded, avoiding eye contact.
Fifteen let out an annoyed sigh.
“Alright, hand ‘em over and I won’t kick your ass.”
“O-okay!” Zero scrambled to take their backpack off.
They clumsily unzipped the zipper and pulled out the container holding the cupcakes. They were surprised the cupcakes were still in perfect shape considering the long trek they had.
Fifteen grabbed the container from Zero’s hand. She looked at the cupcakes through the clear plastic of the container and, even though she didn’t want to admit it, she was kind of impressed by them. Zero never seemed like much of a baker when she used to live in the grasslands, he was always a walking disaster. That number could set water on fire if you left him alone too long in a kitchen.
“Cool. Thanks I guess.” She said before abruptly shutting the door.
Zero took that as his cue to leave, so he turned around and started the long journey in the opposite direction.
- - -
After another 4 hours Zero finally made it back home. He barely made it two steps into his bedroom before he dramatically collapsed onto his bed to take a well deserved rest, however, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. He felt like he was missing something.
Zero sat themself up in bed and tried to think about what they might be missing.
‘Keys? No. I just hung them up..’ They thought to themself
‘I definitely have my backpack..’
He ran his fingers through his hair and suddenly realized, his hat! He must have dropped it near the cabin.
Normally, Zero would be pretty upset he lost his hat, it was his favourite, after all, but he saw it as an opportunity to see Fifteen again!