Nuts and Cheeses - A Healthy Breakfast

No, N&C was not meant to be a ship fic.

That failed miserably, due to a certain coincidence I did not expect.

(Before you spam the comments going NOOO WHY THIS WAS MY FAVORITE SHIP FIC let me explain.)

The whole reason why I even wrote N&C in the first place was because I was tired of seeing smut, ship fics, and Cookie x Reader in the fandom while searching for something that wasn't part of the three.

(Seriously, there are barely any non ship fics in the fandom. If they're non-ship, they're incorrect quotes or much more casual books like oneshot books.)

So I, an amateur writer, decided: Hey! I might as well try to make something different for non-shippers in the fandom; a little something that explained the past of a certain Cookie.

That Cookie was Roguefort Cookie. You can see where this is going.

But, well, how was I going to explain a thief's past...without a counterpart?

Someone that would eventually shape him into the "charming thief" he is presented as in the game, explaining his motivations and the enigma behind his "real identity".

Long story short, I came up with the idea for Almond Cookie, a bright, cheerful, optimistic Cookie who would bring Roguefort to his senses to rebel against the fate his family laid out for him.

(I also created the whole rivalry thing, totally not inspired by anything, yep.)

The dual-protagonist base was born, and with some tweaks and backgrounds, I could start writing!

And then a little over one year into writing the book, Cookie Run Kingdom goes:

"Hey, so I'm releasing an Almond Cookie as well, coincidentally with the same occupation, same age range, and similar design to what you had in mind!

...Also he has handcuffs, which is totally not something you'd intended for him all along!"

And then the community goes:

"He's the local DILF that is immensely popular now!"

So yes, I had somehow completely predicted Almond's release, and with that, my brotherly-friendship-background-explaining fic had somehow evolved into an accidental shipping one!

(And it also, over the course of one week, shot the book from 10k reads accumulated over one year to 20k reads, with the 10k reads coming from one single week alone!)

Can't say I didn't want this to happen because I never would have expected that in my wildest dreams.

Keep on reading to see the original ending I had for this local detective in mind before that happened...