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Christmas.
It felt werid on his tongue after so long and the memories that came with it. Sabre can't remember ever making cookies for 'Santa.' He supposed these were cookies for M, but it didn't feel any less special. If anything, it was more so. M was a great friend.
Everything was on the counters, the butter was room temperature, and the kitchen clean. All he was waiting for was Time. Or well, Eddie. They liked that name more. They said it made them feel more like a person.
Sabre stood straighter as a portal formed in front of him with a single strike of lightning. He smiled as Eddie walked out with an apron. "Hi Sabre!"
He nearly jumped with glee. "Hey Eddie!" Sabre walked around the kitchen island. Eddie met him halfway and hugged him. And by hugged, Sabre meant picked up. Why were steves so tall? He knew it was something about holding energy, but it still made Sabre feel like an ant. "Ready to make some cookies, Sabre?"
Eddie looked ready to explode with joy. Sabre never quite understood their excitement to spend time with him. He wasn't that special. He certainly didn't feel like it if he was. Not the good kind, at least. "Yeah, I got everything for that recipe you gave me!" Sabre wiggles out from Eddie's hold, dropping to the floor. "I haven't turned on the oven yet. Do you want me to do it now?"
"Yes, yes, we need to preheat it!" Eddie's voice loud with their smile, the hands on the clock mask they wear spinning. Sabre found it amusing. "Let's get started!"
Sabre nods, pulling up his sleeves as he led Eddie to the counter with the ingredients. The steve turns on the stove as they walk past it. It's was powered with magic. It was nice, and Sabre liked how it looked. It worked similarly enough to the ones he was used to.
"Is it okay if we add cinnamon and pecans to it? M mentioned he liked those in cake once, and I wonder if he'll like them in cookies." Sabre reached for the bowl of pecans he prepared, jolting as fabric covered his face.
"Your clothing will thank you if you wear an apron." Eddie fixed the apron to his waist
"You're going to give me a heart attack, I sware, a bit of a warning next time!" Sabre laughs breathlessly, hand clutching his chest.
"Ah, sorry, Sabre." Eddie shifted on their feet. "But yeah, we can add pecans and cinnamon."
"Nice! M will love these!"
"Let's make the batter now. We can start with mixing the butter and sugars together!" Eddie smiles, even if it's not visible, Sabre knows it's there.
Eddie grabs the bag of brown sugar and a half measuring cup. "Put in the entire stick of butter."
Sabre nods and picks up the stick of butter. He unwraps it and dumps it in as Eddie pours in the brown sugar. "Can you get the white sugar and then mix that? You'll need a cup of that, and I'll start the flour part."
"Yep," Sabre pops the p, "I can do that!"
Sabre grabs the full measuring cup and drags over the sugar, scooping up a generous amount and dumping it in. "Are you sure this doesn't need more butter?"
"Hm? Oh. I swore a stick was more than that, uh. Do you have more butter?"
"Maybe? I don't see why I would, though." Sabre glances at the butter dish. "Yeah, I don't have..." He blinks at the large jar labeled 'butter' Eddie now has. "I found some."
Sabre didn't own that big of a dish. He takes the dish from Eddie's hands. "Thank you for... 'finding' this." Sabre sets it down.
"How much do we need?"
"Uh, well. Add a scoop until it looks right?"
Sabre blinked at Eddie. The clock hands on Eddie's mask ticked. "Okay then!"
Sabre has learned long ago that he doesn't question the god of time. Ever. He reached his hand out to the spoon on his right and started mixing, occasionally adding a spoonful after he mixed in the last. This would cause his arms to burn had he not been used to stirring stew because that's all he can make without causing a fire.
"Make sure to mix in the eggs, we need two." Eddie puts down the shifter. "I'll pour in the vanilla while you get them!" They jump up and down. Sabre's glad their having fun.
"Then we fold in the flour?"
"Yep!"
He walked over to the kitchen island and grabbed the bowl holding the eggs. Sabre carried them back over and passed one to Eddie. "Thank you, Sabre. For inviting me over." They cracked open the egg. "It's nice to spend time with someone other than my brother." Sabre cracks his egg into the mix, and Eddie reaches for the vanilla. "He's a little... Overbearing." They pour in some vanilla, not bothering to get an actual measuring spoon. "He uh... Hasn't adjusted to my new name."
Sabre frowned. "Is he at least trying to?" He passes the spoon to Eddie.
"I'd like to think he is. I can't tell. El isn't that... Expressive? Yeah. That's the word." They start beating the eggs into the sugar mix. Sabre moves over to get the other bowl. "He's my... He's my brother, or would it be twin? Either way, I still love him. I can't cut him out, and I don't want to. I'm sure all he needs is time." Eddie sighs. "We have an eternity of that."
"Pour in the flour."
Sabre dumps it in with no regard of it slashing up. It creates a cloud the second it lands, causing Sabre to cough and face away from the bowl. Eddie wasn't affected, the tall biiiii - bird. The tall bird. Gotta stay family friendly.
They chuckled as they folded the dry ingredients in. "You okay, silly chicken?" And wasn't that the most sarcastic tone Sabre has ever heard.
"The disrespect -!" Sabre sneezes. Hard.
He clears his throat. "How dare you disrespect your father like this, I thought I raised you better! I really did!" His words are dramatic and straight from a place of good humor.
"Since when were you my father?" They bump Sabre's shoulder playfully.
"Oh please, with the amount of mother hen jokes you make about me. I've earned that title!" Sabre bumps them back with a wide grin.
"I'm not taking back one, father."
"Don't talk to me in that tone, young man!"
Eddie giggles. "Ugh, fine, dad." This was so silly. "Now, can you get the chocolate chips? I'll sprinkle in some cinnamon." They grab the container of cinnamon as Sabre gets the chocolate chips.
"The whole bowl?"
"Save a bit. Just to decorate a bit. I'll trust you to not spill anything and go chop up some of the pecans." Sabre hums out a confirmation, and Eddie pucks up the bowl of pecans.
Eddie always found Sabre to be cool. He was quite admirable. Or maybe only they thought that. No one else seemed to agree. It never changed how they thought about Sabre, though.
To them, Sabre was the bravest person they knew.
Eddie opened the drawer and plucked out the sharpest knife. How did they know which drawer it was? You didn't need to know that.
It would be easier and, in their opinion, safer with a sharper knife, even if Elemental seemed to think otherwise.
They pulled the cutting board from the island. Seriously, did Sabre need to put it on there? Why not a cabinet? He leaves stuff out like there aren't people willing to hurt him. Off topic.
They grabbed a fist full of peaces and started chopping. It probably would have been easier to put the nuts in a bag and just throw it around. Too late for that. They cut up half another fist full before picking up the board.
Eddie carried it over to the bowl of batter and poured it in as Sabre stirred in the chocolate. With quite a poor method. They needed to give him lessons.
"That should be it! After you finish stirring it in, we can put them on the tray." Baking was an absolute joy. Ashame El didn't like it. It would've been great bonding time.
Sabre seemed to be jumping in place. He most definitely had a crush on M. A big one. Eddie had to physically restrain themself from looking forward in time when it came to the both of them.
He scooped up some cookie dough. It looked good. They wondered how bad it would be for their stomach.
"Eddie. The stomach aches will not end. I made a long visit to the hospital last time I ate raw cookie dough."
They weren't sure what a hospital was, but it was probably wise to not take their chances.
"Got it. Can you get an oven pan? And baking paper?"
"Mhm!"
Sabre goes to the cabinet under the sink and pulls out a pan and a drawer to get a roll of parchment paper. He ripped off a sheet and put back the roll before walking back over.
"Do you want to try to do hearts? It's a simple shape and would add a little more." Eddie knew what they was doing, and was quite proud of themself for it.
Sabre opened his mouth, no doubt to protest before shutting it.
"U-uh, yeah, sure. Anything else would end in failure. Yeah..." He flustered, squeezing the fabric of his apron.
"Exactly! I can't trust you to not mess up any other shape!"
Eddie got a weak glare for that.
"The dough should be thick enough to shape in our hands."
Sabre nods and takes out a handful of dough, his face still a little red. Eddie follows.
"You know. You and M are really close. I think it's good that you've put aside time to do something for him." Eddie places down their heart-shaped cookie to get some dough. "Didn't you mention something about another human holiday? What was it? Valentines Day? It's for your special someone, right?" Eddie finishes another heart. "Like a best friend or family member? You never elaborated on that."
Sabre looks like the reddest apple Eddie has ever seen.
"N-no, not quite. It's for something me and M aren't." Sabre places down his messily shaped heart.
"Really now?"
"Really."
Eddie looks at Sabre, waiting for him to look back. "Yeah?"
"Are you sure?"
Sabre stuttered on his words before eventually getting it together.
"I'm sure!"
Eddie nods. "Perhaps you should go to the festival of bonding with M then?"
"The what?"
"Festival of bonding. It's for friends and family to gather and celebrate each other. It'll be hosted by the Voilet Leader sometime in spring. You should bring M."
Sabre goes quiet. The kind of quiet that meant he was thinking.
"... I'll ask him."
"Good. You need to spend more downtime with people you love."
Sabre sighs before letting out a soft chuckle.
"You know that includes you too, right?" Sabre looks at Eddie. "It's nice spending time with you. It's nice knowing and actively seeing you safe in front of me."
He lays a hand on Eddie's shoulder. "Maybe I am a bit of a mother hen, but after everything so far? Can you blame me?"
Sabre looks away and back at the oven tray. "Do these need to rise or anything?"
"Nope. We can put them in now."
Sabre picks up the tray, opening the oven and putting them in.
"This was nice."
"Yeah."
...
"Are you not leaving?"
"What?" Eddie looks at Sabre.
"Do you want me to?" That would hurt.
"Oh, no, not at all! You just normally leave a lot sooner because of Elemental!"
Ah.
"My brother will have to drag me out of here. I locked my dimension and room pretty well. It should take him at least an hour and thirty minutes once he decides he wants to see me."
"Oh? Nice. I didn't plan for this. If only I had a TV."
"The big glowing rectangle with moving pictures, right?"
"Yeah."
"Will a portal on the Indigo and Blue Leaders work?"
Sabre smiled at them.
"Absolutely."
After around fifteen minutes, the cookies were done. Surprisingly, they kept their shape pretty well. All that was left was waiting for the cookies to cool so they could be packed up.
"So. Are you going to write a note, or put in something extra, like a book?"
Sabre looked puzzled. "I don't know what book M could possibly want? He literally has access to every inch of written knowledge."
"What about something about humans? What's a random fact about humans? Or even just a small trivia?"
"I'll be back."
With that, Sabre books it upstairs. They wondered what Sabre would get.
It's only a minute later when Sabre nearly falls back down the stairs holding a small book.
"I GOT IT!"
Sabre rushes over, holding up the book with a proud smile.
"'The body's needs?'"
"Yes."
Sabre opens to a random page.
"It has so much information! Mostly about the human diet, but still! It explains a lot for such a small book. I held onto it so I didn't accidentally poison myself!"
Sabre stands straighter.
"I have another book, but I still need to read through it myself to make notes for the future."
Eddie nods.
"By the way, the cookies cooled down completely, it was almost like magic how quick it was."
They ignored the look Sabre gave them. "Let's put them in a clean cloth."
They both bundled up the cookies and put them in a basket, along with the booklet. They had a little over ten minutes before M was expecting them, or well. Was expecting Sabre. Still.
The walk to the abandoned library was fifteen minutes. That wouldn't do.
"Sabre, close your eyes!"
"Wha -!!"
Eddie teleported them with a few strikes of lightning. Sabre's screech was somehow louder.
Dear Origin! Why couldn't anyone give him a little bit more of a warning. Did they want him to go deaf?!
He went to smoothed out his hoodie and noticed he was still in the apron. He looked at Eddie. They were in their apron still as well.
"Eddie? We still have on the aporns."
"Huh, oh. I'll hold yours."
"Thanks," Sabre pulled off the apron, "I wasn't sure where I would put it."
He passed it to Eddie after they took off theirs.
"No problem."
Sabre looked around at the familiar broken down building and forest. It was just as pretty as he remembered it. He sat on a pile of bricks broken off from the structure. Eddie followed. They sat and waited together.
M was felt so excited! He could smell the cookies and pecans. It had been great talking with Sabre and Eddie, and even better when he learned the while basket of cookies was for him!
He pulled off his boots and switched them out for slippers once he got to his room. It was late in the day, dusk really, and yet he felt like an overexcited wolf pup.
Minden ripped off the soft cloth over the basket and snatched the bundle of cookies. He laid them on his bed and unwrapped them.
Holy red roses.
They were hearts.
Sabre took the time to make them hearts.
Did the basket have hearts?
Minden leaned over the edge of his bed to look at the basket. He squeals at the sight of a note and book in it.
He picks it up and sets it in his bed. The basket was normal, but the clothes were pretty, and would, in fact, be put in his kitchen later. He decided to read the note and hopefully calm down.
The handwriting wasn't the best, but it wasn't bad. It was trembly and didn't have a single straight line, most liking due to the slight tremors Sabre had. It was never too noticeable, but Minden always had a habit of watching Sabre more closely than others. After all, Sabre was a human, something that looked so similar to steves, yet functioned so differently.
He should probably read the note now.
'Dear M.
I don't have the time to talk about my week, but I have otyer things to say. I want to invite you to come with me to the Festival of Bonding as a close friend! It would be nice to have you there with me. I also want to share a holiday of my own with you. It's called Christmas and is normally celebrated on the 25th of December with a decorated tree, presents, and a dinner, depending on who you're with. I don't have the time or resource to celebrate it properly, nor do I know how to really. I want to give you two things, though. Merry Christmas, M.'
Minden felt...
Minden felt special. In a good way.
He folded up the letter and placed it on his bedside table.
He took out the book and glanced through it. A book about the human body. Something that didn't exist here. Dear red roses. Sabre was amazing.
He picked up and ate a cookie.
They were good. He wondered if Eddie helped make them.
"Merey Christmas, Sabre."
It didn't matter if Sabre wasn't here this second. Minden felt like his company was here anyway.