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“You’ve never had cotton candy?” Juniper demanded.
She looked almost worried, staring at them. They tried not to smile at the little furrow in her brow.
“I have not,” Osteon answered. “I never really got a chance to.”
”You have been deprived,” declared Juniper.
”Have I? It looks… toxic,” they answered.
Juniper shrugged. “You should at least try it!”
“Where are we even going to get cotton candy here?” Osteon pointed out.
“Good point. If I find out, I’ll bring you some,” she decided.
About three hours later, Osteon was sitting in their office. They were reading a book, some frivolous romance that they really weren’t paying attention to. Suddenly, Juniper barged into their office, slamming the door shut and triumphantly waving something above her head. Osteon focused their gaze on it. It looked like a giant cloud.
“Where the actual fuck did you get cotton candy from?” Osteon demanded, too surprised to try and filter themself.
“I asked Zam if she could make it and she did!” crowed Juniper.
“How?”
“I don’t know and don’t care. Here,” she added, shoving the cotton candy into their hands.
They blinked, holding the cone awkwardly with both hands. The cotton candy itself smelled extremely sweet. It was a very unnatural shade of blue. Genuinely what was it even meant to be?
“Well? You’re, uh, supposed to eat it,” Juniper said.
Aw. She was cute when she was annoyed. Osteon returned their focus to the cotton candy.
“How?” Osteon asked.
She blinked at them. “Riiiight, you’ve never had it before. So, what you do is, uh,”
She steadied the cotton candy with one hand, pulling a piece out with the other. It was unsurprisingly cottony, pulling off in threads. Then she ate it. Osteon blinked.
“That looks… messy,” they decided.
They chose to take a bite straight from the cone(?). Mistake. They let out a tiny yelp as they pulled off a far larger chunk than they’d meant to. Juniper leaned forward and bit half of it off, lips almost touching theirs. Osteon choked as they swallowed the cotton candy. She also started coughing, face red. She was clenching her fists as bark tried to spread up her arms.
“Sorry! First thing I thought of,” she yelped.
Osteon started laughing, moving to grab water so they didn’t choke harder.
“Sorry,” she repeated.
“It’s fine,” they managed through laughter. “Let me try that again.”
This time, they pulled a piece off with one hand. It dissolved as soon as it touched their tongue, flooding their mouth with an overwhelming taste of sugar and fake strawberries. It was very sticky, too. Juniper stole some more as they swatted her hand away.
“So, did you like it?” Juniper teased.
Osteon laughed softly. “Quite a bit. Thank you, Juniper.”
”Yep! See you around,” she said with a wave.