First place

⚠️ English is not my main language, this entry may have slight spelling errors. ⚠️

[I have permission from the owner of these characters to write them].

First place.

After a long wait comes one of the best seasons for buns in the Burrowgatory, the Strawberry season.

The delicious fruits grow in all corners, gardens, pots and more, bringing with them some celebrations such as the strawberry fair.

This year in particular Malakai is set to enjoy his first year as an independent adult alone in the season in a big way, for this he plans to follow the tradition that his old Mentor Brazz shared with him through their stories and gather a group of friends to go out and find enough strawberries to organize a small stand at the mini strawberry fair they hold close to home.

A small event of the colony, where there are food contests, all kinds of dishes with strawberries, from sweets, cakes and jelly, to sauces, drinks and other intimate products with sweet flavor of that fruit.

Besides the healthy and fun coexistence with the rest of the buns, it also generates an attractive amount of income as long as your stand has a great flavor or variety, some prefer fresh strawberries, others more ripe, some even green or flowers, it is enough to have variety to keep the clientele happy and Mal knows that well.

Cheerful and anxious, Malakai takes his notebook with more than twenty-five recipes that include strawberries to pull out a list of ingredients from the pages; once he has it he writes another list, everything seems to be planned step by step.

After finishing writing, he picks up his phone and makes a short call, a second one and when there is no answer he calls a third time changing the number and putting the speakerphone on after sitting at the table.

"HELLO!" he heard as soon as the waiting tone of the call passed.
"You call Department 512, who are you looking for?" Asked that energetic voice with a lower and calmer tone compared to his initial greeting.

Malakai knew who it was, as there were not many particularly energetic buns on that floor and even less at that hour, 11pm.

"Cooper, good morning, excuse me for calling the floor phone, is Sky at home?, he is not answering my calls".

"Ah!" he exclaimed, as if Mal had confirmed a suspicion.
"So it's you who has been calling all morning, well Malakai, Sky in his sixth sleep may not hear his own dial tone but the rest of the guys do, so please don't call him anymore, he's asleep with the door closed right now. You can come and get him out but I don't think he will be much help to you, it looks like he drank too much yesterday and that's why he is not reacting today buddy".

"Hmn, what a mess, I needed him at least in two senses".

"Yeah, well, you'd have to try to wake him up. Ah I saw that he bought some things and marked them as do not touch in the fridge, if you need them I recommend you come pick them up before Chiffon and Cassian come down to have their little breakfast".

"Ah yes, I will be arriving in a few minutes".

Sigh before continuing, hunching over the table a little.
"Halcyon is home too?".

"Sure, Cassian is too, just the rest of the guys went out, if I remember correctly they went to buy some plumbing stuff Sky asked them to buy , Do you need hands?".

"Depends if you're free, I wouldn't want to bother you anymore". He replied in a cordial tone, as if chatting with a customer.

"Aw, so considerate... I almost believe you, good actor, but yes, I'll be free all day, if you have something minimally entertaining to do, I'll follow you".

"Excellent, I'll be at the apartment in a few minutes, wake up Halcyon if he's asleep and tell Cassian it's time for him to pay me the outstanding favor".

"Sure, see you buddy!".

He replied before hanging up the call.

Malakai straightened up in his chair and then stood up and grabbed a bundle of baskets that were on the table and taped a sheet of paper to each one, he put his phone in his pocket and picked up the notebook, he went over the new plan in his mind.

*I'll wake Sky up, we'll go to the meadow with Halcyon, Cassian and Cooper, maybe I can convince Chiffon to join so we can pick more strawberries in less time and cook everything fast enough so we can fill the stand with food. I may need someone to watch that Chiffon and Cassian don't run out of strawberries if they join us, but I would need to ask someone who isn't going to be busy helping to keep an eye on them but who?.... ah sure*.

"BASTTT!, CAGEEE!!, WAKE UPP,  wake up!!!, it's time for you both to join outside with daddy!"

He shouted and exclaimed, disturbing the peaceful dreams of two adorable imps at home.

After a small fight to wake up a grumpy Snell and a half-sleepwalking orange Pampik, they both entered inside a basket, after finalizing a deal where the two of them would receive new toys if they obeyed the instructions Malakai explained to them, with everything ready he left the house heading to the apartment the boys shared.

After an hour's walk.

Upon arriving and knocking on the door he was greeted by Cooper, the proud bun took him to the dining room to show him that he had managed to wake Halcyon who not wearing his veil, was showing his red eyes which further betrayed the fact that he had smoked before or after sleeping. Noticing Mal, he waved lazily with a hand gesture and a smile, he was a bit groggy probably from being woken up early.

Cassian, on the other hand, was on his back making a strong cup of coffee, then asked Chiffon, who was next to him preparing breakfast, for sugar. They both turned back for a minute to greet Malakai and continue with their activities.

Cooper handed him the basket that Sky kept in the fridge and invited him to breakfast, he accepted, they shared a nice moment during breakfast, when they all finished they asked what Malakai planned to need everyone.

"I need you to help me pick as many strawberries as possible and then cook them in different ways and put them all in my strawberry fair stand".

"Who would have thought you'd be interested in such events Malakai?"
Cassian replied, then took a deep gulp of his dark coffee and continued.

"I thought you didn't like to socialize more than necessary outside of your job, whichever of the two you have".

"And you're not wrong, I'm not particularly thrilled to be around so many people but the first place prize is my goal".

"The thousand carats?, mm looks like someone is spending too much time with our greedy roommate". Chiffon mentioned with a mocking tone.

"Haha, greed is eating you up, huh, makes sense, otherwise why else would you have two jobs and still want to work on your day off… Just thinking about it is tiring already".

Said Halcyon leaning his elbows on the table to hold it in his left hand.

"Not really, it's not the carats my interest, it's the title and the medal they will give me, let's say that this year's will be even more brilliant than last year's that my neighbor James won".

"Ohh and there it is, our envious friend wants a medal better than any other".

Said Cooper.

"And I will have it Cooper" he affirmed with confidence in every word.

"With you helping me it is guaranteed, who doesn't owe me a favor like Cassian and Sky". He pointed with his eyes and turned.

"Or has a debt like Halcyon".

He looked towards Cooper and Chiffon.
"Will be well rewarded for their help, as I mentioned I am not interested in carats and I don't need them either".

"Will we have to share with Sky?"
Cooper asks.

"You can discount him for not answering my calls, but only for that".

"Sure, ¿what do you say Chiffon, will you join us?" He asked, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Of course, I'd love to, especially if I could go to the fair to eat after setting up Malakai's stand".

"Well, I looked for the best area to pick the strawberries and in these lists are written the types of strawberries to pick, we will use several types so it won't be a problem the variety of flavors and dishes available. 

The sooner we leave the better, any questions?".

"Yes" Chiffon answered, capturing the attention of everyone at the table.
"Are you sure Sky will join us?, he didn't wake up with your calls and he didn't come down for breakfast, I think he's either destroyed or passed out in his room".

"Ah" Exhaled loudly as he remembered the little problem with his partner.

"I have the key to his room, I'll go in and wake him up, if you're worried he won't eat breakfast, you can make him two sandwiches to eat on the way; while I take care of bringing him back to life you guys can get ready to leave".

He didn't get a verbal response but a look and gesture of confirmation from the boys at the table, they each stood up and took different directions in the apartment. Malakai started walking towards the rooms, continuing down the long hallway until he came to a plush pink door with some heart stitching.  He confirmed that it was locked and then pulled a bunch of keys out of his pocket and started looking for a very special lilac colored one, he opened the door and of all the scenes he imagined possible he didn't expect to find Sky lying on the bed playing with a console, with his ears tied back and wearing large headphones that apparently canceled out all the noise.

As he didn't notice he approached him and when he was at the side of the bed he touched his shoulder with the intention of getting his attention without scaring him. Something he didn't achieve because Sky was startled and gave a little scream with a movement like a worm wriggling on the bed, until he noticed that it was Malakai, then he took off his headphones and seeing the serious face of his friend, he remembered his commitment for that day. He nervously laughed and told him that he wouldn't be long, got off the padded bed and went into the bathroom of the room, it didn't take him long to come out, bathed and changed.

Malakai didn't say anything, he didn't have to say it, his gaze was already sharing his annoyance to his friend who uncomfortably tried to lighten the atmosphere, since they left the room until they arrived at the entrance of the apartment where the rest of the guys were already waiting for them.

Sky knew he had screwed up but feigned insanity as he ate one of the sandwiches that Chiffon prepared for him, when they arrived they saw everything full of lush bushes, the green grass semi high and the fresh morning breeze greeted them, everything was blooming full of green color.

"Let's split up so we will go in groups of three and two. My imps will watch you, the groups will be Cassian and Halcyon you will be accompanied by Bruce, Cooper and Chiffon will be accompanied by Jhonny, I will go alone with Sky".

"Mhn Is it not too much trouble to make teams, and why do we need your imps to watch over us?"
Halcyon asked.

"Do you think I'm forgetting where you belong?, Sloth, looking for strawberries unsupervised?, who else but Bast and Cassian can guarantee me that you'll look for strawberries without going to sleep behind a bush Hal?, besides, I don't want to run the risk of any of our gluttonous friends craving the strawberries they get and we lose half or the whole basket of each".

"Yeah, we do need supervision".

Chiffon said and Cassian quickly affirmed.

"Aaah, okay". Halcyon replied grudgingly.

"But if Bast bites me I'll throw him in a pond".

"If you try, if you succeed, I'll throw you in the pond myself".

Malakai replied threateningly causing Halcyon's face to show concern and that made the other boys laugh.

"Haha sure, that's what we would all do for our pets, but let's stop the chatter, let's go get those strawberries guys".

Sky said.

The boys split up into teams and with the pets start looking for strawberries.

Cassian battles to get Halcyon to move faster to pick strawberries, as he wants to fill the baskets fast and be able to write down some ideas he came up with thanks to the scenery, as they both went under the trees because of their low tolerance for light. Bast (Aka: The ball of hate, by Halcyon ) is in charge of watching over and grunting at Halcyon every time he stops picking strawberries and makes sure that he does not escape to rest somewhere, as well as making sure Cassian doesn't eat any of the strawberries he puts in the basket.

For his part Cooper subtly flirts with Chiffon occasionally, as they walk around picking the ripest strawberries from the long bushes that are near a small length that Cage enters and exits, who seems to forget to watch Chiffon so that he doesn't eat the strawberries and after a second remembering, then enters and exits at times, entertaining both buns.
For a moment they stop to sit and dip their hooves in the lake while still watching Cage at play.

"Are you still upset?"

Sky asked Malakai while playing with his left ear.

"No, you've apologized enough and bought what I asked for, besides, you're here. It wouldn't make sense to keep bothering with you".
He replied, stopping walking and pointing to a small path.

"Let's go this way, the freshest strawberries are in the shade".

"I'm glad, it's uncomfortable to be under your angry gaze".
He says as he moves forward to enter the path first. "It's nice here, it's cool and hidden".

"Don't get excited Sky, we're not playing hide and seek further down and pass me what you find".

"Sure, sure boss".

They both laughed at the comment, going along with the plans.

Sky managed to take out 20 strawberries, not very big but very bright, they were just right, they looked delicious so much that Sky thought about eating one but Malakai sensed his intentions and stopped him before he grabbed the basket, taking his wrist, with a big smile he let go to move his hand to his waist, then the other one and with love he pulled him towards him easily, without too much force and no opposition from Sky who looked confused but excited by the closeness they shared that moment.

"I hadn't noticed how much I missed spending time with you until now, I think I let work consume me quite a bit, but this is relaxing". After telling him that, he proceeded to give Sky a raised hug quite a bit because of the height difference they both had but carefully because of the little space they had.

To which Sky felt disappointed as he expected another situation but he couldn't deny that he was also happy for Mal's words, so he returned the hug for a few minutes and then asked him to put it down and smiled.

"So... You won't let me have a single strawberry?" He asked with an even bigger smile.

"One? Take two and don't say anything". He smiled, complicit in the petty theft they both committed, taking some strawberries out of the basket and eating them hidden inside the small space.

After an hour, everyone gathers with their baskets full of strawberries, ripe, fresh, green and various flowers. Once all the baskets are counted, they head to Malakai's house to start cooking.

Okay guys, we will make pie, cake, salad, jam, smoothie and strawberry water but the main attraction will be the sweet-spicy strawberry sauce, just follow my instructions"

And so begins a new adventure at home.

The kitchen is a mess with everyone inside, some preparing the molds, others making the cookie or dough for the pies and cake, Malakai and Sky work on the strawberry hot sauce, causing the chili to release smoke that makes everyone's eyes water in the kitchen, after a few minutes of opening windows and getting the smoke out, they all get back to work. Three hours pass and the kitchen smells sweet, it is filled with a variety of strawberry snacks and some leftover strawberries are dipped in chocolate to give away at the stand.

Happy with the results they clean up and go to the dining room to eat a pie they prepared extra for themselves, a small snack before they go to set up the stand at the fair and the competition begins.

"Are you ready to win?, because I don't plan to work that hard again, Mal".

Says Halcyon.

"Of course, and we'll celebrate big time when I get my medal, guys".

He said and raised his glass to which the boys excitedly raised their glasses also as a toast to his great plan.

With everything ready, they loaded the pies, cakes and all the dishes in the baskets to take them to the park where the fair was held, with lots of themed decorations, from a strawberry botarga, to prizes and balloons.

Malakai guided them to the space he had reserved for his stand, they all arranged everything and when they finished, only Mal and Sky were left together in the stand, since the rest decided to go for a walk around the fair and the games.

Thanks to Sky's great gab, Bast and Cage tricks and Mal's striking appearance, they managed to attract a lot of attention and sales at the stand.

As well as the attention of one of the judges of the dishes who was fascinated with the sweet hot sauce, giving it a great score, something that was supported by the two remaining judges which gave the first place to Malakai, who the first thing he did was to go shake hands with his annoying neighbor James who this year was in second place and could no longer boast of having a brilliant medal only him.

While Sky split the carats between Cooper and Chiffon, giving a few also to Cassian and Halcyon courtesy of Mal.

The End.