They Still Think This is a Dream (Jax x Reader)

Heck's Kitchen

The next morning, my hair was an absolute mess and I had heavy bags under my eyes. The light from the digital sun was shining into my overly colorful bedroom and onto my dresser, reflecting off of the mirror onto my groggy face. The wake-up call was blasting into my ears with the deafening sound of the Canadian AI's booming voice, although this morning it sounded like Bubble and Caine were fighting over the microphone.

"TIME TO WAKE UP MY BINGUS DINGUSES- Scoot over, Bubble!" "ALWAYS REMEMBER TO SMOKE WE-" "BUBBLE IT'S MY TURN!"

I plopped my soft pillow over my head to drown out the uncalled for arguing, but I knew I had to get up soon and face the "music". I waded it out for about two more minutes, then got up to get dressed.

After breakfast, Caine had immediately pounced on our opportunity of free time to gather us all for the daily adventure.

"Today's adventure is.. 'Baking with Buddies'!"

"Alright, we're screwed." Zooble said in their usual, tired tone.

"I will pair each one of you up with a partner, and you will have to present the three judges with a delicious delicacy that'll pack a sugary punch to their impeccable tastebuds! You'll each have two hours exactly to work on your petite pastries, make sure that it's ONLY sweetness! Any questions?"

Pomni raised her hand.

"Nobody? Wonderful! Let's get going!" He snapped his fingers and a holographic portal appeared and a giant hand shoved everyone in, making sure that Zooble was going with us.

We entered a giant bakery with booths of every color, loaded with all the baking supplies you could imagine. There were two giant windows as tall as the building itself on either side of a small, wooden door that led to a small garden that contained vegetables and fruits and herbs of all kinds. Above each booth were lamps in the shapes of upside down bowls. The room was well-lit with plenty of "natural" light from the giant windows and the white lightbulbs inside of the lampshades that were hanging from the ceiling. The floor had a natural look with clean, tan tiles that felt good under my shoes. I looked around and saw that everyone including me was now wearing a white apron and chef's hat to look the part. As I was looking around, I was interrupted by Caine's big voice.

"Bubble will now spin the colorful wheel of friendship to unveil who everybody's partners will be! Take it away, little guy!"

The wheel spun fast, the satisfying ticks of the hand slapping each knob as it went around and around. It finally stopped on Ragatha.

"Let's roll again to see who your partner will be!"

The wheel went spinning again and landed on Pomni.

"Ragatha and Pomni will be paired together!"

The rest of the wheel spins went pretty much the same. Jax got paired with an NPC, Zooble got paired with Gangle, and I got paired with Kinger.

"Now, choose a booth!"

Me and Kinger chose the deep blue booth.

"On your marks, get set... GO!"

Caine shot a gun and it was off to the races. Me and Kinger brainstormed for a while, then decided to make his wife's favorite dessert: strawberry cake with chocolate frosting.

I started whipping up the batter as he handed me the ingredients.

"Kinger, could you hand me the milk?"

"There isn't any.."

"What do you mean there isn't any milk?"

"I don't see any."

"Here- you keep stirring and I'll look for the milk." I suggested.

"Sounds good." He took the whisk and began to stir the ingredients.

As I made my way to the fridge, I slipped on some flour that spilled on the floor and fell on my side.

Kinger stared at me as I started laughing.

Ragatha rushed to my side.

"Y/N? Are you alright? You took a bit of a fall there.."

I was still laughing. "Yeah, I'm fine."

But as I tried to get up, I accidentally turned the knob on the gas stove, the flames catching the recipe book on fire.

We all yelped in surprise.

"PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!" Pomni yelled.

Before any of us could carefully put the fire out, it caught the fabric on the roof of the booth on fire, soon setting the whole stand ablaze.

Me, Kinger and Ragatha stumbled back in shock as we watched the fire begin to catch from one booth to the other.

"EVERYBODY GET OUT!" Kinger roared as the fire alarms started wailing.

All of us bolted out the door and into the garden as the whole bakery turned into a giant blazing mass. We all stared in awe and fright as the building started to turn black and burn like leaves in a fire.

"Heheh... Um... My bad guys.." I chuckled softly, trying to lighten the mood.

"You think?" Zooble snapped.

I sighed. "I always ruin everything, don't I?"

"No, you don't.." Ragatha laid a comforting hand on my shoulder. "It's not like you set an actual, real life building on fire!" She jeered.

Jax walked up to me, his arms crossed. He looked down at me with a mixed expression.

"Glad you didn't get hurt..." He murmured.

I blushed slightly and looked down as I shifted my feet on the 3D grass.

"No need to be all shy." He said. "It was.. kinda funny."

I cracked a small smile.

"See? Feeling better already." Ragatha pointed out with a soft, gentle tone.

"Thanks guys.."

Caine swooped down to the scene to find what remained of the building smoldering in its ashes.

"What the- What happened in these parts?" He asked.

Everyone looked at me.

"I-"

"I caught the building on fire."

Jax interrupted me before I could barely get my words out. He was covering for me...

"You what?"

"I accidentally caught the recipe book on fire and it kept spreading and now we're here." He explained.

Caine clicked his tongue. "Well, at least you lot are okay. We'll... continue this adventure tomorrow, shall we?"

Everyone agreed, then he snapped his fingers and we entered the circus the same way we had left it.

I walked next to Jax and glanced at him for a moment.

"Thanks... for covering for me."

"It's no problem... You gotta have someone to have your back here, yknow?"

Then he walked into his room, and shut the door behind him.