Cookie Batch-lorette

Opportunity Strikes

Golden Cheese Cookie stared at the poster for a good five minutes. She was reading, re-reading, re-re-reading to make sure it was correct. An almost devilish smirk marked her face as she ripped the poster off the wall. The cookie glided as fast as she could, her feet skimmed the ground as her glorious wings did most of the work. Once she arrived at the inn, she kicked the door of the room that she and her partner (in crime) were living in open.

"Oh my glorious Cacao-bean! Come look at this!" She called.

Cacao walked in, only replying with a tired (and somewhat annoyed) grunt.

She swiftly flew to the darker cookie and shoved the poster in his face, "Take a look at this."

He leaned back a bit in order to read properly, then grabbed it gently so as to not crinkle it.  From what little he skimmed through it seemed to be a poster advertising a contest to... compete for the heart of the queen herself? Winner gets her hand in marriage?! Dark Cacao didn't like where this was going. He considered asking Goldie where she got it so he could tape it back.

...

"And I should care because...?" Cacao deadpanned.

Golden Cheese almost dropped herself at his response.

"What do you mean 'and I should care because?!" She snatched the poster from his hands and vigorously tapped it with her free hand. "The Queen is looking for love! And look here." She poked the bottom of the poster multiple times for emphasis. The print was so small that Cacao had to lean in and squint just to make it eligible. It read 'all may apply'.

After reading it, he was able to put two and two together.

"No." He said bluntly before snatching the poster back, walking outside, and looking around the street.

"Wh- Oh come ON Cacao!" She said, following him, "It's so easy. All you gotta do is enter the competition, sweep your opponents and the queen right off their feet."

"...have you ever seen me talk to a girl? Have you ever seen me talk to anyone besides you?" He said, without looking back.

"No—"

"Exactly." He turned a corner. She followed. Both ignored the strange glances they were given by the locals.

Golden Cheese huffed. "Cacao, think about all the opportunities! Think about what your parents would think if you married the queen of the Hollyberry kingdom!"

He thought for a moment.

"They would think I'm a womanizer," he said with utmost certainty.

Golden Cheese facepalmed, "You gotta have more faith in them than that."

"I am giving them some faith. And I think they would think I'm a womanizer." He turned another corner and glanced over a cobblestone wall. "Where did you find this poster?"

"But this could be the perfect way to climb the social ladd—Oh it was around this wall," she said, interrupting herself before realizing what she had just done and quickly returning to 'persuade Dark Cacao mode'. "Your status would improve dramatically."

Dark Cacao grumbled bitterly as he made his way to the poster's original location. "Or I could absolutely flop and look like more of a fool than I already am." He slapped the poster back on the wall with such force that the cobblestone began to crack.

Golden Cheese sighed theatrically as she followed Dark Cacao down the street. "Do you always have to be so boringly negative?"

"Do you always have to be so sickeningly positive?" He bit back, refusing to look at her.

Silence hung over them all the way to the inn. Once they entered the privacy of their room, Golden Cheese broke the silence with a huff.

"I still think it would be in both of our interests if you took part in this contest," she said firmly.

Dark Cacao pinched the bridge of his nose. Oh my stars she's still going at it, "Why are so adamant on getting me to join this stupid Bachlorette ripoff? You know me Goldie, I can't talk to people period."

Golden Cheese's eyes lit up at that. "I can help you! I can be your wing-woman and guide you on your romance journey." She sighed. It was full of admiration.

Something clicked for Cacao.

"Goldie... Do you want to join the contest?"

Her wings immediately closed up, causing her to stumble to the ground. Her face turned a light pink as she held an embarrassed smile. She turned away.

"W-well! As much as I would love to, I don'tthinkIcan..." she muttered the last part quieter.

"Why not?" Most of his annoyance faded as it was replaced by a light trace of sympathy.

"Because I don't think the queen is into girls." She chuckled nervously.

And here comes the annoyance again. "Goldie, did we not see the same poster? It said 'all may apply.'"

"Maybe it meant all guys!"

"If they meant that, it would've said 'all men may apply'. You can probably join and have no one raise an eyebrow at it."

"But I don't wanna!" Golden Cheese whined.

"Why not?"

"Because what if I mess up and make a fool of myself? Me, Golden Cheese the Magnificent!" She placed the back of her hand on her forehead, as if she were about to faint. "I would never be able to recover from such a blunder."

He sighed, once again his annoyance dimmed and sympathy shone through once again. As prideful and self-absorbed Golden Cheese acted, he knew her to be a perfectionist sensitive to any sort of failure. But in a way, she was partly right. They both were absolutely awful at talking to others. Goldie would ramble about herself for hours. Cacao himself would be frozen in place, staring at the person and making himself look like a creep. They could only socialize well if they had each other.

Actually... In fact...

"You know what? Alright. I'll join this contest."

"YES!" She cheered.

"But you have to join too."

"WHAT?!"

"You heard me." He said, stepping closer, "Us both will join the contest to win the love of the queen.

She stammered, "Can't you just apply yourself?"

"Sadly no. Like I said, we both cannot talk to people separately. So I suggest that we both enter and help each other out. That way, it wouldn't matter if either one of us fails. It would still be a win for both of us anyway."

Golden cursed her glorious self. Why was he so stupidly right? She made a childish whine as she looked at Cacao. She wanted to enter the contest, but just the potential for her to humiliate herself made her skin crawl. Dark Cacao was still waiting for an answer. He was perfectly still, just a few feet away from her. The only movement she noticed was him tapping his foot. He was probably waiting for her answer.

So she did something rather unspeakable for her. She swallowed her pride, "Ffffffine. We'll go together."

A barely visible smirk crossed the man as he walked over to the closet they both shared. "Glad to see that we have come to a compromise oh Golden Cheese the Magnificent."

"Say that again and I'll kill you."

"You won't."

"...yeah I know I won't..." she muttered. She looked over Cacao's shoulder. It looked like he was... picking out different suits?

"...What are you doing?" She asked, hesitantly getting closer.

"Trying out clothes. You should too."

"Why?"

"I analyzed the poster further. The deadline for submissions is tomorrow."

"Oh."

It took her a moment to process what her partner (in crime) had just said.

"Wait, WHAT?!"