After School

[Crash Bandicoot]

Looking behind him, Crash's face fell in surprise but his smirk was soon back as he ran away from her. His hands picked up the flour and chocolate and he spun around to face her. "Don't do it, Ari. I'm completely armed."

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari growled and leaped toward him, trying to smack him with the rolling pin.

[Crash Bandicoot]

He narrowed his eyes and dodged her attack but it wasn't a very good dodge cuz he still got smacked in the neck. Letting out a sound of shock, Crash really glared at her and took a fistful of flour, throwing it in her face.

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari closed her eyes quickly when she saw him move to fling the flour, dropping the things in her hands and attempting to cover her face, to no avail. She opened her eyes and sputtered, spitting flour out of her mouth and trying to wipe her eyes. She glared and Crash, then smiled evily. She opened her arms wide.

"C'mere, Crash. Let me give you a hug."

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash blanched and tried moving around the kitchen, trying to get out of Ari's hug zone. "Oh. No. Stay away from me, flour face." He started to climb onto one of the counters but it had ingredients on it everywhere. Eventually, he slipped on some flour that was on the floor and fell with a thud on his back. He groaned and whined, cursing. "Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit...."

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari giggled and bent down, rubbing her face all over the front of his shirt.

[Crash Bandicoot]

He whined and moved his head back, as if that would help. Crash glared at her but his face eventually melted into its usual smirk. Two could play at this game. "Aw, Ari. It's cute how you think you can win." He reached up for the butter on the counter and put some in his hands before holding Ari's face in his hands. "So so cuuuuuuuuuuuuute." He acted like he was talking to a baby, making sure to smother her face with the butter.

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari squirmed, trying to get out of his reach. She reached up and grabbed the sugar, dumping the bag's entire contents on his head. "Mwaha."

[Crash Bandicoot]

"GAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!" he snapped in surprise. Crash managed to close his eyes in time as some of the sugar rained down around him. He slowly opened one eye, then the other, and stared at Ari darkly. "...You're not gonna win. So how about you. Just. Give. It. Up?" He licked away some sugar that had gotten on his cheek.

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari shook her head. "Nope. But you wanna know what the funny thing is?"

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash raised an eyebrow. "The fact that I can do this?" He grabbed a handful of chocolate chips and stuck a smily face that was missing an eye onto Ari's cheek before eating more chocolate. "Or this?" He tapped her nose, covering it in flour.

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari shook her head, grinning. "Nope. If we weren't missing the vanilla, brown sugar, and..." she reached up for the eggs, cracking one on Crash's head, "well, now we're not missing the eggs- but add the vanilla and brown sugar and the two of us combined would be wearing all the ingredients to make cookie ourselves. Just throw us in the oven and whallah! Instant cookies! And dead people..."

[Crash Bandicoot]

He glared at her for a long while before Crash actually started to laugh. It was a low chuckle at first and then grew in audio until he pushed Ari to the ground and pinned her shoulders down. He ducked his head a little, some of the yolk dangling above Ari's head until some dropped on her face. "I could withstand being in an oven. Uh, you on the other hand would be dead in a milisecond. And oh by the way, I win."

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari glared at him, trying to reach above him for another ingredient, but to no avail. She growled and put her hands on his shoulders, attempting to push him away.

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash just stared at her. "Are you kidding?" he mumbled and chuckled when some yolk landed on her face. "Ari, you weigh exactly sixteen pounds. It ain't happenin'." He shook his head and slowly bent it down until his lips pressed against her cheek. When he pulled back, the yolk was gone and he was smirking. "See? I win."

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari continued to shake her head, smirking. "Nope." She wrapped her left arms around Crash's back, lifting herself up so she was no farther than a few centimeters from him. With her right hand, she reached around on the counter for the brown sugar, grasping it with the tips of her fingers and dragging it over to the edge of the counter. She smirked at Crash. "I think I'm gonna win," she said, before pulling the bag off the edge.

[Crash Bandicoot]

He didn't have time to move Ari in his place or even move himself for that matter and the sugar spilled all over his head. Crash bit the inside of his cheek, though. He wouldn't give Ari the satisfaction of hearing him scream about it. He merely stared at her, blinking off the suagr that'd gotten onto his face. He slowly reached up but found there wasn't a lot of ingredients left. And if there were, they were basically gone. So he just grabbed what was left of the vanilla and unscrewed the cap with his teeth before tugging at the front of Ari's shirt and pouring it down. He smirked at her, whispering, "I think I just won, love."

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari squealed and let go of Crash, flopping to the ground laughing. She grabbed some of the butter off her face with her hand and, with the other hand, reached for the brown sugar on Crash's back, smearing both on his face. "I refuse to give in!"

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash whined, closing his eyes. "Why not?! Just give in now!" He wiped the butter and sugar off of him and just wiped it on Ari's face now. He stared at her for a little while before smirking again. She smelt kind of good... "Just say you do and this can all be over!"

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari crossed her arms over her chest and grumbled. "Fine," she said, staring at him.

[Crash Bandicoot]

He smirked at her. "Good." Crash's smile faultered a bit as he stared at her and before he could really understand what he was doing, he was leaning in and kissing her. He still didn't fully understand why he was doing it, though. But he was.

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari's eyes widened, but within seconds, she had her arms wrapped around his neck and she was pulling him closer to him. Part of Ari's brain finally kicked in, wondering why she was kissing him back. The other part, the larger part of her brain, overturned the smaller part's objections before completely shutting off, leaving Ari alone.

[Crash Bandicoot]

Of course Crash's mind was having conflicting opinions too. Yeah, he'd just gotten some closure with Eve, which was great. He knew they couldn't really last anyway. He didn't even think about what to do with Kyra but Ari knew his situation with her. So...eh. In the end, Crash just pressed closer to Ari and moved a hand to hold her face. "What are you doing?" he asked against her.

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari pulled away slightly and blinked. "I don't know. What are you doing?"

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash looked away from her for a while. "I don't know, I asked you first", he mumbled. He glared at a spot on the floor before turning back to look at her again. "Don't mock me for this but seriously, it...just...felt right."

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari looked up at him and smiled. "Same here. To be completely honest... I think Ace and I are over... we never really had that spark, you know? But with you... it's almost natural- almost like everything was supposed to lead up to this. I don't know... I think I'm rushing a little," she said, blushing and staring at the collar of his t-shirt.

[Crash Bandicoot]

His mouth started twitching and he was laughing before he could stop himself. He put a hand to his mouth to try and muffle the sound but realized that was stupid and just let the laughter come. It was more of a way to release his feelings than anything but let's face it, it also had to do with what she said.

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari glared at him for what seemed like the upteenth time that day and put her arms on the floor, sliding out from underneath him. She stormed out of the kitchen and up the stairs, stomping into the bathroom and slamming the door.

[Crash Bandicoot]

"Oh, come on" he shouted, the laughter still in his voice. Sighing some but smiling, Crash made his way up the stairs too and looked around for her. When he saw the bathroom light was on, he looked at the door and just leaned against it, his back to the door and his arms folded over his chest. "Ari, I didn't mean it like that. You're not seriously pissed, are you?"

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari refused to answer his question, so she turned on her shower. Instead of getting in, however, she sat with her knees to her chest under her sink, silent.