[fic] cookies
word count: 438
rating: g
summary: the joys and betrayals of bringing baked goods to boy’s football
Kevin Thomas took one bite out of the sugar cookie and crumbs dotted his turquoise uniform. His dark brown eyes bulged and he stared down at it, still chewing. Eric liked how long his eyelashes were.
“You made these, Dicky?” said Kevin, all awe, “from a box or something?”
Eric rearranged the cookies in the Tupperware, hiding the cookies with the poorly done icing on the bottom and hiding the sudden heat all over his face. Kevin didn’t even care about the mess he was making—that’s how good Eric’s cookies were.
“No—well. Me and my mama start with all the regular ingredients from scratch. Flour and sugar and all that. It’s really not that hard.”
Kevin reached for another one. Eric flattened out the little smile that bubbled out of him.
“I’d make a hundred cookies every day if I were you,” said Kevin, mouth full, “like, seriously, every day. What’s stopping you?”
“I can only use the oven when my mom’s around.”
Kevin scoffed. “Do it in the dead of night, crawl on your belly like a commando. I sneak out into the pantry seven nights a week.” And then, making sure to grab one last cookie for himself, “Y'all! Dicky brought food!”
The rest of the team descended upon the park bench, sweaty boys with muddy ankles and sun cast frowns.
“Are they covered in ants?”
“Ugh, I’m not eating any of those if we just have Gatorade. We need milk.”
“Why’d you eat them all?? Kevin, you old fatso.”
“Did you pour these out of a box, Dicky?”
“No, he made them in an easy bake oven!”
The full mouths started chortling and there was a flash of eyes that meant that a new joke was about to get strung up like a piñata.
“Anna busted her easy bake oven.”
“My grandma makes cookies.”
“Hey, you calling Dicky a granny?”
“My dad said if it walks like a duck!”
“Grandma duck—oh, oh! Granny Dicky!”
“Yeah, Dicky, where’s the easy bake oven? You bring it with you?”
This was from Kevin Thomas. It got the loudest laugh and thus ended court—the cookies were finished anyway. Eric smiled despite all this. A whistle pierced the air and some of the boys went to congregate around it. Eric snapped close the lid of the empty Tupperware. Then, as though he noticed his own body for the first time, Kevin looked down at the mess of crumbs on his uniform and brushed them off with the back of his hand.
He ran to join the rest of the crowd.
“Thanks for the cookies, Dicky!”