The Colors Universe
Orange Flavored by WD
Characters: Akai-san, Mikan-tan, Kou-kun, MidorinWord Count: 725 words
Theme: red and yellow make orange (WHAT!?)
Author Notes: N/A
It was well known in the boarding house that Mikan stayed awake every other night. Her favorite orange soda had massive amounts of caffeine in it, keeping her awake for roughly thirty-six hours before the needs of her body overrode the amount of caffeine in her system and she crashed for about twelve hours, usually in odd places. As long as she made it to class on time, none of the adults cared, even when she was found resting peacefully in the coat closet or under the kitchen table.
Akai was used to this and wasn't at all surprised to see her when he came downstairs first thing one morning. She was humming quietly and working on something with her hands. Akai patted her on the head as he walked past her and turned on the coffee maker, then looked back to see what she was doing.
A huge bag of Starburst candies was open in front of her, the small, wrapped candies falling out of the bag and across the table haphazardly. A few wrappers sat next to her hands, and being worked in her palms were several pieces of cherry and yellow Starburst, made malleable by the warmth of her hands and shaped into a rough ball.
Akai watched her without speaking as coffee slowly dripped into the pot. Once he had a full cup's worth, he poured it into a mug and went back upstairs with it, patting Mikan on the head once more.
Suffice to say, Akai was fairly useless as a human being first thing in the morning.
Midori was the next one downstairs, a huge pair of green headphones settled securely on her head. They were attached to a minuscule mp3 player that she held in her right hand as she danced into the kitchen. "Mi-kan-tan!" she sang out as she poured the remnants of the coffee into a mug with the words 'PROPERTY OF MIDORIN &hearts ' scrawled across it in black marker.
"Morning, Midorin!" Mikan responded cheerfully. She put aside one glob of red and yellow candies and reached for a green candy. Midori snatched it from under her hand, plucked up a few more of the same color and pocketed them, then danced back out of the room.
Mikan watched her leave, shrugged, and started unwrapping a lemon Starburst.
Kou was just tugging on his gloves when he came into the room and froze in place. "Mikan-tan?" he asked.
"Good morning, Kou-kun," Mikan replied, squishing the candies together with a strangely gleeful expression.
"Good morning," he responded automatically, then shook his head. "What... are you doing?"
"Making orange flavored."
"...What?"
Mikan put the ball aside and started unwrapping another cherry. "I ate all the orange ones already."
"So you're...?" Kou started hesitantly.
She responded without hesitation. "Mixing red and yellow to make orange. Did you get enough sleep? You're acting like Akai-san before coffee."
"I got plenty of sleep," Kou said, staring at the red and yellow blobs sitting on the table. Despite her claims to the contrary, they didn't look orange at all. "Mixing cherry and lemon doesn't really make orange."
"Red and yellow, not cherry and lemon. Try it." She held out one of the chewy candy balls. Kou took it from her and popped it in his mouth - cherry wasn't his favorite, but he was sure the lemon flavoring would make up for it.
He nearly spat it back out in surprise. Instead, Kou tongued the ball into the side of his mouth and spoke as well as he could around it. "It tastes like orange!" he exclaimed.
"Told you so."
"That's impossible!" He chewed on it a little. Definitely orange.
Mikan shrugged and continued squishing candy together. Kou raised one hand, ready to protest, then shook his head and laughed quietly as he went back upstairs.
Akai came back down with his mug five minutes later, ready for a refill of his coffee. Unfortunately, there was barely any left. He squinted violet eyes at the pot, as if glaring would make it suddenly contain more liquid. "Midorin," he muttered. He turned around and saw Mikan, still hard at work. "What's that?"
"Red and yellow make orange," Mikan told him, grinning as she held out a red and yellow ball. "Want to try one?"
