Court of Feathers

Seventeen

Word Count: 2,083

"How do you do it, buddy, honestly, I think some of this stuff tastes better than anything they could whip up in the castle." Lance licked his fingers with a content sigh.

Hunk beamed at the compliment as he scooted the empty plate away. All four of them were currently crammed into a comfortable booth tucked in the corner of the small bakery, an empty plate of what once was cherry flavored pastries were now sitting empty in the middle of the table and Lance yawned, patting his stomach as if he had just finished eating an entire meal. "I mean really, what's your secret? There's got to be something that you add that isn't in the recipe. I mean, you know I've borrowed the recipe card more than once, and even the royal chefs haven't been able to make anything as good as you're able to."

Hunk shrugged, suppressing a smile to the complement of his good cooking, "There isn't anything else, Lance, I've told you that already." He licked his finger and gathered some crumbs from the plate and stuck it in his mouth.

"Well, I don't believe you, those were amazing, how come you don't have your own shop or something?" He put his hands on his hips, fixing the wingless teen with a stare, waiting for an answer as Hunk stumbled over his words.

"There- there isn't anything else, I just bake it with love, that's about it- there isn't anything else. And, well, mom has to have someone looking after her; she'd get lonely here all by herself."

Lance shrugged, "Well, I guess family is important and all, but your food is amazing."

"I agree," Keith said, nodding towards Lance's statement. The teen looked to be much more relaxed after the small treat, he still had his arms crossed in front of him, but he was now comfortably slumped into his seat, a small dot of leftover filling hiding along the corner of his mouth. "I don't think I've ever tasted anything as good as this before."

Now the teen was blushing uncontrollably, "Aw, come on, you guys, it's just food, it's nothing really. Actually, I think Mom's a better cook than I am, she has this one recipe that-"

"I have to agree with Keith," by now Shiro was secretly wishing he had gotten more than just one off the plate, the first bite alone was amazing, and Lance had managed to get his hands on at least three of them in one grab.

The little pastries reminded him of those little Danish pastries with fruit filling inside, and if Shiro thought those were good, Hunk's blew them completely out of the water. "You could make millions of dollars off of this kind of food at home."

"Guys," Hunk whined, putting his face in his hands, even then Shiro could see his face was beet red. He could tell the kid wasn't accustomed to very many compliments when it came to baking, "could we stop talking about me, please? It's just food."

"Fine," Lance huffed, elbowing Hunk playfully, "but don't think this conversation ends here, I could make you the most famous chef in all Oriande! Just say the word!"

"No, I think I'm good."

Shiro laughed as Lance continued to try and convince the teen to open his own shop, he even went as far as offering to buy the property for him, but Hunk continued to shake his head, trying to get Lance to drop the conversation.

The tingle of a bell rang through the bakery a few minutes later, but Shiro was too occupied with listening as Lance then started to tease Hunk for not being able to talk to "that cute girl that works at the Balmera that you keep talking about. I know her name, and you do too."

"I could hook you up if you wanted," the prince said, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"No! No way, I'll talk to her eventually, just not now."