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It was a quiet day in Lars’ house so far. His parents were at work, he had the day off (for once, it was a legit day off and not one that he lied to get out of or just straight up skipped), and he had plenty of time to do whatever he wanted.
…Which in this case was baking.
No one was around to notice or judge, so Lars intended to take full advantage of that.
He exited his room and made his way down to the kitchen, where he then retrieved all the ingredients he would need to bake…whatever he decided to bake. He was still a bit undecided.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a knock at the door.
He glanced over at it, confused.
His parents and Sadie were all at work, the Cool Kids were probably off hanging out or something…so that left only one other person it could be.
With that in mind, Lars decided not to answer the door.
Another few knocks sounded.
If I ignore the knocking long enough, it'll stop, Lars thought, making no move to walk to the door.
The knocking only persisted.
Lars sighed, growing a bit frustrated.
Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore and stomped over to the door. He swung it open and glared down at the culprit: a certain short boy who could not take any hint whatsoever and never left him alone.
The boy in question smiled up at him. “Lars! How's my BFF?”
“What are you doing here, Steven?” Lars asked, not bothering to hide his expression of annoyance. Sure, he had grown to start befriending the smaller boy recently and even (begrudgingly) admitted that he sometimes enjoyed his company in small doses. But that didn't mean he wanted unexpected company.
Steven apparently wasn't at all deterred by the other's frustration. “Cause I wanted to see you, of course!”
“Why?”
“Can't I just spend some time with my BFF without needing a specific reason for it?”
“We're not BFFs.”
“Ah, but you've still chosen to hang out with me a few times.”
“That doesn't mean we're- ugh, whatever.” Lars hated that he couldn't even argue that point. He had either asked a few times if Steven wanted to hang out or agreed when the younger boy was the one to request it.
He was beginning to regret that now.
“Sooooo…can I come in?” Steven asked.
“No,” was Lars’ blunt answer.
“Aw, come on!” Steven protested.
“Don't you have anyone else to hang out with?”
“...No.” Steven looked down, some sadness and…was that loneliness, appearing in his eyes. “The Gems had to go on a mission and didn't let me tag along, Dad’s at work, Connie is busy studying, Lion is sleeping, and Lapis and Peridot are having one of their Camp Pining Hearts marathons.”
Lars noticed both feelings in the younger boy's eyes and felt a little guilty for initially turning him down. “Okay, it does sound like no one else is available.”
“Yep,” Steven agreed dejectedly.
Lars fell silent, beginning to reconsider his previous answer.
Steven looked up at him, surprised that he hadn't immediately slammed the door in his face even if he had said no at first.
Actually, it didn't surprise him as much as it would've in the past. The older boy had hung out with him a few times lately. So maybe he was softening up a little.
(He had no idea how to feel about that.)
“...I was just about to bake,” Lars finally answered.
Steven's eyes lit up. “Sounds fun! Can I join?”
Lars hesitated. It wasn't that he thought Steven would make fun of him, the kid was the least judgmental person in the world. At the same time though, he usually baked alone. He wasn't sure he wanted to let anyone join him.
Steven noticed, and his eyes dimmed a little. “It's okay if not. I could always just come back another time.” He looked a bit sad at the idea.
It wasn't lost on Lars, as he felt a bit bad upon seeing the younger boy's expression go dim again. “No, no. It’s fine, you can come in.”
As he spoke, his brain began to scream in disbelief at him.
Steven’s eyes lit back up. “Really?”
Lars gave a nod. Welp, I've officially gone soft. Ew.
Steven smiled and dashed into the house.
Lars closed the door and headed back over to the kitchen to find the younger boy already there.
“So, what're we baking?” Steven questioned.
“I was actually trying to figure that out when I heard the door,” Lars replied.
Steven laughed sheepishly. “Sorry if I interrupted.”
“Eh, don't worry about it.” Lars waved off the apology. “I hadn't gotten that far in the thought process.”
“Oh, cool! That means I can help.”
“Go ahead, I'll take pretty much any idea.”
Steven thought for a minute, then glanced up at Lars. “How about some cookies?”
Lars considered it, then nodded. “Sure, sounds easy enough.”
Steven smiled, happy to have helped.
Lars began to survey the ingredients he had placed into the counter, checking to see what was needed and what could be returned to the fridge or pantry.
While Lars was doing that, Steven headed over to the cabinets and grabbed a mixing bowl and some utensils. He set it on the counter.
Lars noticed, then glanced over at Steven. “Thanks.”
“No problem!” Steven grinned up at him.
Lars found himself mirroring the smile just a little bit. The kid's cheerfulness truly was infectious.
There I go again, Lars thought, putting away a few ingredients.
Once done, he began to think again before looking over at the shorter boy. “What flavor of cookies are we thinking?”
Steven’s mouth twisted in thoughtfulness. “Hm…good question. There are so many.”
“Right?”
Then Steven snapped his fingers, having gotten an idea. He looked up at Lars. “How about some sugar cookies if you have all the ingredients for it?”
“Good idea. Let me check.” Lars did a quick scan of the fridge and pantry again, discovering that he did in fact have all the necessary ingredients. He placed them on the counter. “Sugar cookies it is.”
“Yay!” Steven cheered.
Lars chuckled as he poured the ingredients into the mixing bowl.
“Can I help?” Steven looked up at the taller boy.
Lars glanced up from the bowl and at Steven. “Let me get it all mixed together and then you can, okay?”
“Okay!” Steven agreed, smiling.
Lars found himself returning it again before he switched his attention back to the baking. He turned on the electric mixer and watched it stir the ingredients together as his mind wandered a bit.
This was the second time today he had found himself smiling back at the younger boy. He had agreed to let said younger boy help him bake when he usually reserved that hobby for himself only. He had hung out with him a few times. He had even started referring to Steven as his friend when just a few months ago, he'd been convinced that he'd never see the half-gem as anything more than a nuisance.
What was even happening to him anymore?
After another minute, Lars snapped out of his thoughts and looked down to see that the mixture had been successfully blended.
He looked over at Steven. “Okay, I'm done.”
Steven, who had taken a seat at the table and covered his ears to block out the noise of the mixer, looked up and dashed over. He looked at the cookie mix and grinned. “So can I help now?”
Lars nodded, spooning the cookie dough onto a board. “You can go ahead and run the rolling pin over it.”
Steven grabbed it and began to roll it over the cookie mix a few times, making sure to flatten it but also leave it a little fluffy. He looked over at Lars. “Do you have any cookie cutters?”
“I think so, let me check,” Lars replied, checking the pantry and some of the drawers.
He then found a few bags of cookie cutters, all with different themes. He laid them on the counter. “Which ones do you want to use?”
Steven surveyed his options, which included Christmas, some animals, and a spring theme.
His eyes zeroed in on the animal cookie cutters, and he pointed at them. “I want those.”
“All right,” Lars responded, returning the other bags to a drawer.
Steven opened the bag and dumped the cookie cutters over the counter.
Lars looked over the pile, then selected a dog cookie cutter and pressed it into the dough.
Steven picked a cat cookie cutter and stuck it in the cookie dough. He grinned up at Lars. “Hey, look! Cookie cat.”
Lars chuckled. “Nice.”
Steven smiled more and pressed the cat cookie cutter into the dough a few more times.
Once the boys had finished shaping the cookie dough, Lars laid it out on the cookie sheet and put it in the oven. He then set the timer and looked over at Steven. “Okay, we've got some time until they're done. Anything you want to do in the meantime?”
“Hm…” Steven thought for a minute, and then his eyes wandered over to the video game consoles littered on the ground by the TV stand. “Let's play a video game!”
“Sounds good,” Lars agreed, walking over to the living room.
Steven followed.
They picked out a video game and played a few rounds before the timer went off to alert them that the cookies were done.
Lars set down his controller, headed over to the kitchen, donned a pair of oven mitts, and retrieved the cookies from the oven. He set the cookie sheet on the stove and stepped back to admire the handiwork of not just him, but also of Steven.
Speaking of Steven, he bounded over to also take a peek at the cookies. He smiled. “Those look so good.”
“They do,” Lars agreed. He looked down to see the shorter boy. “We did a pretty good job, huh?”
He said “we”! Steven thought excitedly. Lars had included him and also said he did good. His smile grew as he looked up at Lars. “Yeah!”
Lars chuckled and grabbed a plate. He picked up a spatula and deposited the cookies onto the plate, where he then let them cool for a few minutes.
Once they had sufficiently cooled off, Lars placed two each into two bowls for himself and Steven. He placed both bowls on the table.
Steven grabbed two cups, opened the fridge, found a carton of milk, and poured some for both of them. He went over to the table and placed down the cups. “Here.”
Lars took one of the cups before sitting down. “Thanks.”
“You're welcome!” Steven took a seat next to him. He picked up a cookie and took a bite.
Almost instantly, the sugary taste hit his taste buds and caused a smile to come to his face. “Mmm…they taste even better than they look.”
Lars nibbled on one of his own cookies and his face also broke out into a smile. “Right?”
Both boys dipped their cookies into the milk and polished them off fairly quickly.
The two of them visited a bit longer and ate a few more of the remaining cookies before Steven noticed how late it had gotten.
He got up from his chair. “Sorry, Lars, but I should probably get going. The Gems are probably back from their mission by now and wondering where I am.*
“Don't worry about it,” Lars assured him. “You probably should get back before they panic.”
Steven chuckled, thinking about how overprotective his “moms” could be. “You have no idea.”
Lars grinned. “I think I do. My parents are pretty overprotective, too.”
Steven laughed and began to head towards the door.
“Wait!” Lars called.
Steven paused and glanced at him.
Lars packed a few of the cookies they'd baked into a Ziploc bag, then handed it to the smaller boy. “Here. As a thank you for helping to bake them and for coming over.”
Steven took the bag and smiled up at Lars. “Aw, you're welcome. Thanks for letting me stay.”
“No problem.” Lars smiled back. “See you around.”
“Bye!” Steven waved before opening the door and heading back home.
Lars closed the door behind Steven, then wandered over to the couch and took a seat.
Much to his own surprise, he found himself admitting that he'd actually had fun baking and spending time with the younger boy today. He hadn't expected to feel that way even if he had slowly started to befriend him.
But he did feel that way. Maybe this was what it was like to have someone he could really be himself around.
And maybe he liked that a little more than he cared to admit.
And maybe he was considering letting Steven come over a bit more often.
Maybe.