Prompt | Fall Food

Song:
Pumpkin Spice (Taylor Swift Parody)
By: Maxwell Glick

Ninjago

🎃🎃🎃

If Kai doesn't get a pumpkin spice latte in under three minutes he's going to explode.

It's bad enough that his sugar-obsessed toddler of a friend had got him addicted to the thing (thanks for that Lloyd.) Now he has to wait in crowded lines and listen to a middle-aged white woman rattle off her lengthy, over-complicated order to the emo teen glaring at her from underneath their heavy mascara.

Kai put minimal effort into stifling his sigh. It was eight o'clock in the dang morning, he didn't have time for this! He really should've sucked it up and had tea like the rest of the group. It would've been an odd herbal mix Wu got from some far-off remote bog in the middle of the ocean but at least it would've been handed to him immediately. And free!

Thankfully, Kai didn't have to wait much longer. The woman finally got her drink and she moved on to sit at the best table with her handbag placed carefully in the other seat so no one tried to sit near her. Not that anyone would Kai grumbled in his head.

"Next." The emo teen prompted the brunette with a deadpan tone.

"One pumpkin spice latte," Kai said with confidence as he marched right up to the counter.

"Sorry we're sold out for today," The kid informed him without feeling, not even looking up from where they were picking at their black nail polish.

"WHAT?"

A pierced eyebrow raised. "I said that we're sold out for today."

"But-but," Kai sputtered. "How?"

"Excuse me young man, but SOME people are trying to get their drink before work." A businessman said impatiently behind him. He sounded annoyingly like Kai. The fire ninja gritted his teeth. The only thing keeping him from drop-kicking the guy was Nya's voice in his head lecturing him about starting fights in stores. Honestly, Kai still wasn't sure why she felt the need to remind him every time he left the monastery to be nice. It wasn't like Kai was planning on wrestling a strangely muscled ten-year-old over a Momo Monkey backpack again.

"There are many other delightful fall-themed choices at The Coffee Shop." The teen's tone made it seem like these choices were anything but delightful. Unfortunately, Kai's patience was wearing thin and his need for sugar and caffeine was becoming too great.

"Fine," Kai said with a little extra salt just so people knew how unhappy he was about it. "What else is there?"

The teenager blinked cluelessly back at him. "I dunno. Look at the menu."

Maybe Nya was right to give him the lecture.

The sound of the impatient man clearing his throat jolted Kai back into the present. In his panic and desperation for some kind of liquid to quench his craving, the ninja quickly blurted out the first thing his eyes caught on the menu. In under two minutes, a cold plastic cup was plunked into his hands and money was snatched from his fingers. Kai stared blankly down at the monstrosity dripping onto his sleeve and realized with a sinking feeling that he's made a terrible mistake.

It was some sort of Frappuccino. The thing has light coffee swirled in with something blue-dyed, covered in whipped cream and a bright sapphire syrup that could give him cavities from just looking at it. Yellow lightning bolt sprinkles were practically dumped on top and at the drinks point was a toothpick and that toothpick was the cringiest, most sickeningly dramatic paper cut out of Jay's face.

"My god, what have I done," Kai whispered in horror.

Right on cue, the door swung open, revealing the lighting ninja himself in his puffy jacket and a far too long scarf wrapped tightly under his chin so it could emphasize his annoyed pout. "Are you ready to go Kai? Master Wu says if you're going to insult him with coffee you might as well do it with speed-" The young man's sentence cut off when his gaze locked onto the drink in Kai's hand. His eyes widened.

"It's not what it looks like!" Kai cried.

"KAI!" Jay screamed. One hand flew to his mouth while the other pointed at the cup in hand. "Do my eyes deceive me?"

"I ordered it by accident!" Kai hastened to tell him.

"Then it must be fate!"

"Oh my god, Jay! How would this be fate?" The fire ninja couldn't help but roll his eyes up to the ceiling. He didn't see much.

"The people of the cloud kingdom themselves knew you were destined to be a closeted Lightning Ninja fan. Now you have revealed your secret and you can live your life in the League of Jays proudly, without judgement!" The boy sighed, his face full of emotion. His dreams have finally come true!

"... are you crying?"

"What on earth is taking you so long?"

The boys both froze and slowly turned to see Nya standing there with her hands on her hips. She wore an unimpressed scowl and a slightly askew teal beanie, allowing a dark lock of hair to fall out. With an aggressive huff, the strands of hair flew out of the way.

"Kai bought my special drink!" Jay immediately told her with excitement. Kai promptly punched his teammate in the gut. "OW!"

Nya snorted. "You bought a fan drink? Inspired by Jay?"

"No!" Kai yelled defensively. "It was a mistake! I was rushed!"

"And your thoughts immediately went to my boyfriend?" The corners of her lips twitched. "Something you want to be telling me, Kai?"

"NO!"

"Ahem," A lady coughed pointedly. The same lady that had taken forever to order only to let it go cold when she took a million pictures for her various social media accounts. "This is a coffee shop. You're disturbing the people who are trying to have a quiet breakfast."

"Oh please," Nya scoffed without any restraint. "That's barely a breakfast. It's just hot sugar in a mug."

The woman gasped dramatically and Nya pressed on, getting right in her face. "That's right! All you're drinking is hundreds of calories and caffeine that will only impede your overall health!"

Kai forgot how cutthroat Nya could be when she didn't have anything to eat. Wordlessly Jay went to go get her a bagel before she could make the obnoxious woman cry. With an awkward pat on the shoulder, Kai left his sister to her own devices and slid out the door. The cool wind brushed against his cheeks and he raised the straw to his lips with only a little bit of cursing.

As soon as the drink hit his tongue his mouth was filled with a melody of flavours. The cream was mixed with lemon, adding a nice tart contrast to the syrupy sweetness the rest of the Frappuccino had to offer. The little marshmallows on top were soft and squishy, the texture complementing the smoothness of the coffee and cream. It was cold but even on the chilly fall morning, the nostalgic coffee flavours filled him with a warmth he couldn't even get from a fire. Never had the ninja ever had anything quite like this.

"Crud," Kai muttered and he took another large sip. "It's so good."

NOTE*****
Day one has begun! I originally was going to go with a much more homey and familiar food as I don't drink coffee but the idea of Kai going to a Starbucks-like coffee shop tickled me. Before I knew it this one-shot was written and the monologue I had to memorize was forgotten to the side.

I guess I won't be getting any sleep tonight 😂

I'm so excited to see everyone's Flumptober stories! I'll try and read as many as I can! Don't forget to tag me so that I can check them out!

LuckyBugBooks 🐞