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Bonnie had never, ever been a morning person. That much had been apparent to Clemont from the day she’d been born.
“Five more minutes,” she’d whine incoherently into the pillow, and, being the wonderful big brother that he was, he’d give it to her. Then that five minutes would quickly turn to ten, then fifteen, then twenty, then a call from her school asking why she wasn’t in attendance, and finally a lecture from their dad about responsibility, directed equally at both of them.
Meanwhile, Clemont had always been the opposite. He was awake with the sun, regardless of how late he’d been awake the night before. It had started as an ingenious method of getting a sufficient Vitamin D without any of that pesky ‘going outside’ stuff, but the habit stuck even as he began venturing out of his house and gym more often.
Neither of those facts hadn’t changed as the two of them had begun traveling alongside Ash. Clemont was still awake earlier than anyone else, and Bonnie was still the heaviest sleeper in all of Kalos. The only difference was that now he had two friends to both assist him in getting Bonnie out of her tent each morning, and make fun of him for getting tired so early in the evening. It didn’t matter how long they traveled, the routine stayed the same. Clemont couldn’t say he minded it, even if it did get a bit frustrating at times when Bonnie insisted on sleeping in even later than normal. It was a piece of home that he could take with him no matter where he went, and that alone was worth the mild annoyance he occasionally felt as he had to essentially drag Bonnie out of her tent.
So, when he stepped out of his tent first thing in the morning, the sun just barely beginning to peek out from underneath the clouds, to see Bonnie, fully dressed and active, he immediately knew something was wrong.
“Bonnie?” He asked, too tired to hide the concern in his voice as he rushed over. “What are you doing awake?”
“Ahh!” She yelped, sticking her hands out in a desperate attempt to hide whatever she was doing. Upon closer inspection, she was sitting right in front of the extinguished campfire Clemont had set up to cook dinner at the night before. There were also a few things sitting next to her, but, seeing as how it was so early he hadn’t even put his glasses on yet, Clemont couldn’t quite tell what they were. He could manage to see Dedenne, though, who seemed just as panicked as Bonnie. “Go away! You’re not supposed to be awake yet!”
“That’s my line,” he chuckled with an edge of worry, ignoring her warning as he sat down next to her. He quickly cleaned his glasses and put them on, but by the time he’d done so, realized that Bonnie had already hidden everything around her to the best of her ability. Hm. Strange. “Is everything okay? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you up so early before.”
“Everything was okay ‘til you showed up.” She pouted, crossing her arms. “Go back to the tent and go do science stuff or something! You’re gonna ruin the surprise!”
“Surprise?” Clemont’s eyes widened with horror. If it had been coming from anyone else that word would have elicited excitement, but this was Bonnie he was talking about. The last time she had a ‘surprise’ for him it had been making a massive glitter bomb for his 11th birthday that resulted in him still occasionally finding glitter flakes in Prism Tower from time to time. Did he appreciate the effort? Yes. Did he wish it hadn’t taken an entire week to fully wash the glitter out of his hair? Also yes. So he couldn’t blame himself for being a bit worried hearing her use that word again.
“Yes! Surprise!” She seemed almost offended at Clemont’s vague question. “Now shoo! I told you, you’re gonna ruin the—” Bonnie abruptly cut herself off, her exaggerated annoyance quickly turning to worry. “Uh oh.” Before Clemont even had the chance to ask her what happened, she followed herself up with something entirely unexpected. “Hey, Clemont? What was in that little white container next to the campfire?”
“What, why—” he cut himself off, realizing it was better to just answer her question first in case she had done something dangerous. “I’m pretty sure you’re talking about the salt. It’s the only ingredient I leave out overnight since the lid is strong enough to prevent most wild Pokémon from opening it. Even then, most of them tend to ignore it anyway.” He took a deep breath, then prepared himself for the main question on his mind. “Why do you ask? And what are you doing out here so early in the morning? You’re worrying me a little, Bonnie.” Instead of answering him, Bonnie reached over the campfire and grabbed a bowl she had hidden from him, staring into its mushy and inedible looking contents with a sigh.
“I was trying to give you a surprise…” she mumbled dejectedly, turning away to hide her expression. “But I messed it up. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, hey, you don’t have to apologize,” he comforted, putting a hand on her cheek. “It’s okay.” Bonnie finally looked back at him with a frown on her face that made Clemont’s heart ache. “I’m guessing you were trying to cook something?” She nodded sadly, setting the bowl to her side. “Why didn’t you come ask me for help? I didn’t know you were interested in cooking, or I would’ve helped teach you at dinner last night.” Bonnie mumbled something incoherent, still wearing a frown that made Clemont’s own expression drop, before looking up at him and repeating herself.
“…It was supposed to be a surprise.” Oh, right. He’d been so caught up in his concern that he’d nearly forgotten about that. “I wanted to make you something to say thank you, but I totally messed it up! Not even Chespin will wanna eat this thing!” She gestured vaguely at the bowl of ingredients, and, upon further inspection, Clemont had to admit it looked… pretty bad. Okay, no, that was him being nice for Bonnie’s sake. It looked horrible— it was somehow an unnaturally vibrant green color, the whole thing was bubbling up in a way that couldn’t be normal, and was that an entire orange shoved in there? She was definitely right about this thing being entirely inedible even to Chespin, but he would never say that to Bonnie. Even if it was a scientific accomplishment to mess up a recipe this badly, the important thing was that she tried. He doubted his dishes at her age would’ve been much better—even if he was pretty sure they wouldn’t have been green— so he could never fault her for taking initiative and trying something new.
“Hey, don’t say that,” he soothed, moving the mixture out of her sight. “The important thing is that you tried. You woke up early and made something all by yourself!” Bonnie leaned into his hand, her frown slowly melting away. “I’m proud of you for trying something new like this. Even if I wish you’d just came to me instead of grabbing ingredients from my tent.”
“Really?” She asked, like he’d ever in a million years say no.
“Really.” He smiled softly, relieved that Bonnie’s frown started to melt away alongside his own. “Though, can I ask what you wanted to thank me for?” he asked his mind wandering as he thought of what Bonnie wanted to thank him for. Hmm. Maybe it was for last night’s dinner? There was nothing particularly special about that, though? Maybe it was for buying her that cupcake from the vendor they’d run into? No, he promised her that a few days ago after one of his inventions went haywire and caught one of her stuffed animals on fire. Oh, or maybe it was—
“Clemontttt, you’re doing it again.” Bonnie waved her hand in front of his face, and Clemont came back to reality.
“Ah, sorry,” he apologized with an embarrassed laugh. “I was just thinking about what I’ve done recently to warrant you making me a…” he trailed off, realizing he didn’t know what exactly Bonnie had tried cooking for him. He didn’t want to offend her by guessing incorrectly, but it’s not like the bowl of bubbling green gave him a clear answer, so he awkwardly paused as he waited for Bonnie to answer his unspoken question.
“Cake,” she answered plainly, not seeming at all offended like Clemont had expected her to. “It was supposed to be a cake.”
“Oh!” Clemont did not mean to sound that surprised. To Bonnie’s credit, it looked just as much like a cake as it did any other edible object. Which was to say not at all. …Okay, that wasn’t really a compliment. Instead of trying to salvage his reaction, Clemont cleared his throat and focused on what actually mattered here. “That’s very sweet of you, Bonnie.” He smiled warmly, feeling his heart swell in his chest. Bonnie had done all of this for him, he let sink in. Bonnie, a girl who could sleep through an army of Exploud marching through Lumiose, had woken up before dawn all to make him a cake from scratch. He must have done something right, he realized with a smile. He really must have done something right.
“Well, it would have been.” She looked down at where the bowl was moments prior, realized Clemont had moved it, and sighed. “Now there’s just a big goopy mess.” She grabbed the bowl and poured it into the extinguished campfire, looking away as she did so. “Yeah, yeah, I know.” Despite herself, Bonnie smiled. “It’s the thought that counts, like you said.” Her brows furrowed in thought, like an idea was on the tip of her tongue, before she grabbed Clemont’s shoulders with a signature look of pure joy and excitement that he’d missed from her. “Ooh!! I have an idea!!!”
“Yeah?” He smiled, excited by proxy.
“Why don’t we make one together! Then I’ll know how to make it right, so I can actually surprise you!!” She paused for a moment, realizing a small flaw in her plan. “Hm. I guess I’ll have to wait until you forget about the surprise, then. Or I could just give it to you when you’re totally not expecting it! Like, in the middle of the night!”
“I appreciate your enthusiasm but…” Clemont shuddered at the thought. Between Ash and Chespin in the tent with him, that cake would be gone in about four seconds, and he didn’t even want to think about how sick they’d be afterwards. “Please don’t.”
“Lame.” She stuck her tongue out playfully. “Buutttt! Will you show me how to make a cake if I promise not to give it to you in the middle of the night? Please please please please plea—”
“Of course I will,” he laughed softly. “You don’t have to beg me.”
“Yayyy!!!” She beamed, staring up at Clemont like he’d just given her a million dollars. “Thank youuu!!!! You’re the best big brother ever!!!” He felt his face warm up with appreciation. He hadn’t thought much of it—in all honesty, he’d been wanting to show Bonnie how to cook for a while now, but had assumed it was something she wasn’t interested in. But with the way she was looking at him now, it was clear that it meant way more to her than he had anticipated. He gave Bonnie a quick hug—his way of reciprocating her words without getting himself both tongue-tied and embarrassed trying to verbally express how much she meant to him—and gently ruffled her hair.
“It’s really not that big of a deal,” he tried to explain, but Bonnie shot him a glare that made him clear his throat and continue. “But it’s nice to see you so excited about something! I never thought you’d be into cooking, to be honest.”
“Me either!” She shook her hands excitedly. “But it looks so fun when you do it, and everyone gets so happy eating what you make! And it’s not like I have any money to buy you any other kind of present…” Bonnie continued before Clemont had the chance to ask the question on his mind. “But it’s so much harder than it looks. How am I even supposed to tell the salt and the sugar apart!?”
“Well—!” Clemont knew he was about to go somewhere he could never come back from, but he was too excited to stop himself. “Salt is approximately 25% more dense than sugar, so a teaspoon of salt weighs just a little more than a teaspoon of sugar.”
“Oh, really? That’s actually kinda hel—”
“You can also dissolve them in alcohol to tell the difference! Sugar dissolves pretty easily, but the salt won’t dissolve at all!”
“I think that’s a little more th—”
“Oh, and another important distinction is in the atomic structure! Salt’s structure is very organized and cubic, but sugar crystals are fairly irregular in shape. Salt crystals are also much bigger than sugar ones, so you can see them fairly easily at low magnifications. Oh, and—” Clemont blinked slowly, coming back to reality. How to tell the difference between the ingredients, he reminded himself with a mental facepalm. Not the compounds. She’s eight! “Sorry,” he apologized, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.
“Mm-mm.” Bonnie shook her head, and Clemont cocked his to the side in confusion. “No apologies.”
“But I just—”
“Nope!” She held a finger up to his mouth. “You always get mad at me when I apologize for silly things. It’s a… what was the word? Double… double statement?”
“Double standard,” he corrected quietly.
“Yeah!” She beamed. “It’s a double standard! So you’re not allowed to apologize for silly things either.” Clemont’s instinctive reaction was to laugh—Bonnie was doing all of these theatrics because he apologized for rambling on about chemical compounds, and that was admittedly a bit amusing—but the more he thought about it, the less inclined he felt to do so. It… meant a lot to him, he realized. It meant a lot that, even though he started rambling again, even though he missed another social cue and started talking about something incredibly different than what was asked, Bonnie didn’t want him to apologize. It was a small thing, really, but it meant a lot. “‘Sides, I like hearing you talk about, um…” she stared inquisitively at the ground for a few seconds before looking back up with a smile. “Sciency things! Even if I don’t understand any of it.” Clemont’s heart did a funny thing upon hearing that. It… wasn’t something he heard often. The vast majority of the time it was something more akin to people excusing themselves from a conversation to get away from all of his ramblings rather than anyone actually appreciating them. He smiled widely, aware of how silly he must have looked but too overjoyed to care. He assumed Bonnie was exaggerating at least a bit for his sake—even if she didn’t mind it, he doubted the extent of her enjoyment—but regardless, he appreciated her words.
“Thank you,” he offered simply, because, again, there was no way to properly communicate the way that made him feel without embarrassing himself beyond return. “Oh, and the easiest way to tell salt and sugar apart in a culinary setting is honestly just a taste-test. I always keep them in distinct containers just in case, but that’s the easiest way to go about it if you’re unsure.” Bonnie nodded with amusement, eagerly listening in. “I keep the salt in the white container, and the sugar in the blue one. It’s in the tent right now, which is where I keep most of my leftover ingredients overnight. Though, maybe that’s not the best place to keep a container full of sugar.” Clemont shuddered at the thought of Chespin managing to figure out which container had the sugar in it. He wasn’t sure it’d be able to open it on its own, but the possibility was enough to make him briefly reconsider his storage arrangements.
“I only have a few ingredients right now, though, since there’s not a ton of space to put things in the tent, and a lot of things would go bad overnight.” Bonnie nodded again, her eyes sparkling with intrigue. “Now that I think about it, I don’t have any milk or eggs right now, since we don’t have a refrigerator to keep them in.” He expected her smile to fade as he mentioned that, but the information didn’t seem to faze her at all. “Looks like we’ll have to run to the city if we want to make that cake today.” Though, with a quick glance at how high the sun was in the sky, Clemont wasn’t sure they’d be able to make it in time before Ash and Serena woke up. He was sure they wouldn’t mind, but he didn’t want to risk setting off the day’s schedule for something that could easily wait another day.
Hm. Now that he thought about it, Bonnie had already raided his tent for ingredients, right? So she must have known that they didn’t have any milk or eggs. Would she really try to bake a cake without the two most important ingredients? Or…
“Oh, I know.” Clemont raised an eyebrow. “That’s what I was planning to do anyway! I saved up just a little money from doing chores and stuff, so I was gonna go and—” Bonnie seemed to have realized her mistake mid-sentence, and cut herself off with a regretful, “Oops.”
“You were going to what?” Clemont hadn’t meant to raise his voice, but Bonnie’s words completely shocked him. She was planning on going out into the city by herself to go get the ingredients for a cake? This early in the morning? It was a good thing he’d woken up when he had, or—
“Heyyyy!” Bonnie whined, crossing her arms defensively. “I’m not a little kid! I can handle it.” Before Clemont could even begin to argue, she continued. “We’re right next to Coumarine City anyway! I only would’ve been gone for, like, a couple minutes.”
“You don’t know that.” Despite all of the worry welling up in his chest, Clemont kept his voice calm and collected. “You could have gotten lost, a wild Pokèmon could’ve attacked you on the way there, or about a million other things could’ve happened.” He took a deep breath, trying not to think too hard about worst-case scenarios. The important thing was that he’d caught Bonnie before she’d snuck off, after all. “The point is that it’s not safe.” She looked ready to argue, but must have realized he wouldn’t let her. “I know you’re not a little kid, but you still shouldn’t go off on your own like that.” She crossed her arms in protest, still clearly not liking that answer. “And don’t tell me you were planning on lighting this campfire by yourself too…?” Her silent frown was all he needed to know. “Bonnie…” His tone wasn’t scolding so much as it was simply worried. If he’d woken up just an hour later, Bonnie could have ran off into town on her own and tried starting a fire. The thought scared him, but he took a deep breath and shook it away. She was here now, and that’s what mattered.
“I know…” she frowned, kicking the dirt at her feet with embarrassment. “But I just really wanted to surprise you! And it wouldn’t have been a surprise if I had to ask you for help!”
“I’d much rather have you here and safe than have a cake made for me.” Bonnie didn’t seem to have thought about it that way, and it made her frown lighten up a bit. She looked back up at Clemont with wide eyes, a small smile finally curling back up at her lips.
“I guess that makes sense.” Still, though, she didn’t look fully satisfied. “But you promiseeee you’ll teach me how to bake one later? And then forget about it so I can actually surprise you this time?” Clemont laughed softly. He knew he wouldn’t be forgetting this anytime soon, especially with the bright green bowl of goop currently sitting across from him, but he wasn’t going to tell Bonnie that.
“Promise.” Bonnie’s face finally lit up with the excitement he was used to, and she suddenly pulled him into a tight hug as Dedenne happily hopped up onto his head. It was so tight that Clemont almost lost his balance—embarrassing, considering how small she was—but he quickly hugged her back.
“Thank you!!” She beamed, as if he hadn’t already agreed to the same thing a few minutes prior. Clemont smiled—she must have been really excited to make this cake.
“But you have to promise me that you won’t sneak off or try to start a fire on your own, okay?” This time, Bonnie agreed without hesitation.
“Promise!” She pulled back from her hug, and Dedenne jumped down from Clemont’s head with an excited cry. “It’s gonna taste soo good!! Ooh, how should I decorate it?” Bonnie looked at him for a split second before turning away. “No, wait, it’s a surprise! I can’t ask you that.” She planned on decorating it too? That wasn’t much of a shock, considering how artistic and creative Bonnie tended to be, but imagining her being in charge of decorating her own cake with no one else around to guide her made him shudder a bit. Not because he was worried about it being ‘bad’ or ‘messy’—he’d absolutely adore anything she gave him, no matter how it looked—but because he was really, really worried about glitter being involved again. “Ooh!! And I can get pretty pink frosting, too!! If I save up enough money I can even get one that’s strawberry flavored!”
“I’m allergic to strawberries, Bonnie.”
“Really?” She seemed more upset about that fact than Clemont did, for some reason. “Lame.”
“Uh huh.” Clemont playfully rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you spend today thinking about how you wanna decorate the cake, then we can pick up the ingredients and decorations while we’re in town?” Bonnie smiled as Dedenne let out an excited cry. “I’m sure Serena would be happy to help you pick some out if you’re not sure, since you probably don’t want me there.” Realizing he was forgetting someone important, Clemont hesitantly added, “And Ash…” Bonnie gave him a suspicious glance.
“Last week Ash tried making a Pokepuff and it exploded,” she said with a complete deadpan glare.
“Well, yeah, but…” Clemont swallowed his words, realizing there was no arguing with that point. “Okay. Maybe just Serena, then. Unless you wanna pick everything out on your own.” Please no glitter, please no glitter, please no—
“I’ll have to think about it.” That was better than he’d been expecting, at least. He wanted Bonnie to be able to have full creativity over the cake—it was her idea, after all, and the fact that she’d even thought to do this for him in the first place was unimaginably sweet of her—but he also wanted to make sure that she didn’t accidentally grab the wrong ingredients by mistake. He had faith in his little sister, but at the end of the day she was still an eight year old. Mistakes happened, and Clemont didn’t particularly feel like being in the splash zone.
Hm. Maybe that was payback for all of the times Bonnie had been caught in the crossfire of one of his inventions exploding. That was fair enough, he supposed.
There was still something about this whole thing that was bugging him, though. Bonnie said she’d done all of this to thank him, right? Waking up early, scrounging around his tent for ingredients, even planning on running off to town and starting a fire on her own, all to thank him.
But for what?
She’d said it was to thank him. Not to thank everyone, which would have been more in-line with what Clemont was expecting. No, it was to thank him.
“…What did you want to thank me for?” His question was rather sudden, he realized after Bonnie shot him a confused look, but he couldn’t think of a better way to ask than just blurting out what was on his mind. “Sorry.” He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. “I was just wondering what it was exactly that you wanted to thank me for. You went through all this effort, but I still don’t know exactly what I did.” No matter how many times Clemont tried to think about it, he came up empty-handed. He tried his hardest to be there for Bonnie when she needed it, but he wasn’t sure how successful he’d been at that. Apparently he’d done well enough for her to try baking him a cake, but he still didn’t know what it was that made her decide he was worth that.
“Nothing!” Bonnie looked away, suddenly embarrassed. Clemont raised an eyebrow. “It’s nothing! You did nothing!”
“Really now?” The sarcasm in his voice was enough to make even Bonnie roll her eyes.
“Fineeee!” She relented, as if she’d ever actually planned on keeping it a secret. “It’s just embarrassing!”
“You can tell me anything, you know.” ‘There’s nothing more embarrassing than me getting locked out of my own gym by my own invention,’ is what he wanted to say, but he figured there were better ways of getting Bonnie to admit what was on her mind than bringing that horrible memory back from the dumpster.
“I know, it’s just…” she trailed off, taking a deep breath and turning back towards him with an oddly serious expression. “It’s hard to explain! I’m really thankful for Ash and Serena and Dedenne and everyone, I totally am! But you’re my big brother, and you’re always there for me…” Clemont nearly ruined the moment by choking on his own spit, but he managed to swallow it down. “I dunno how else to say it, so I wanted to make you a cake. But, um, I’m really happy you’re my big brother.”
…
Clemont silently choked back his tears.
He’d always tried his hardest to be there for Bonnie, even if it meant occasionally feeling like he was bothering her. Their mom had died when she was a baby, and with their dad being as busy with work as he was, Clemont didn’t want Bonnie feeling lonely, or that no one cared about her.
He’d never explicitly told her that, of course. He didn’t want her feeling like she was a burden on him, even though that couldn’t be further from the truth. If anything, he occasionally wondered if it was the opposite. If he was being too protective and overbearing, doing little more than being an annoyance to her.
But hearing those words coming from her mouth with such genuine love and appreciation made Clemont realize those fears were completely ridiculous and unfounded.
“Bonnie…” he wasn’t sure what to say, his eyes filled with unshed tears, so he pulled her into a hug. She hugged back with all the force her tiny body could muster. “That’s not embarrassing at all. I’m happy to hear it.”
“Would’ve been nicer if I could’ve said it with a cake.” He was about a thousand times happier to hear her words than he would be to receive a cake, but he didn’t expect her to understand that. Instead, he decided to suggest something that had been on the back of his mind since she’d first confessed her surprise.
“Why don’t you share that cake with everyone once you bake it?” It didn’t look like she’d considered that as an option, and her face lit up with joy.
“Yeah! That’s a good idea!” Dedenne seemed to agree, letting out a happy cry as its tail wagged excitedly. “I can even use Pokèmon safe ingredients so that everyone everyone can have some!” Clemont smiled back at her—Bonnie’s smile had always been infectious.
“With all of the Pokèmon we have, that cake isn’t going to last five minutes.” Especially with Ash’s Pikachu and his Chespin involved. Bonnie didn’t seem to mind, though, as her smile didn’t fade in the slightest.
“So? I can just bake more cakes.” Clemont couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh—that was such a Bonnie solution. “I wanted to say thank you to you, but I already did, so now it can be a thank you to everybody!” Dedenne agreed with a happy chirp.
“I’m sure they’d all appreciate that.” He could already picture the surprise and happiness on Ash and Serena’s faces, and the thought alone made his smile widen. They’d both been working so hard recently, with Ash’s gym challenge and Serena’s showcase preparation, so something like this was exactly what they needed. It was small, but even a small act of kindness like that could help show them that all of their hard work wasn’t in vain.
“Hey guys!” Almost as if on cue, Ash climbed out of his tent, tiredly rubbing at his eyes. “Whatcha doing up, Bonnie? Isn’t it a little early?” Clemont opened his mouth to offer a short explanation of the situation, but Bonnie abruptly shushed him.
“Don’t ruin the surprise!” She warned in a hushed whisper, and who was he to disrespect her wishes? He kept quiet and allowed Bonnie to do the explaining. “We were talking! About, um…” she frantically glanced around the wilderness, looking for a believable lie. “Trees!” It took everything Clemont had to bite back his laughter. It was a good thing Ash had woken up first—Serena never would have believed something like that.
“Oh. Okay.” Ash, however, couldn’t be less bothered. “As long as you’re having fun.” He walked over to the two of them and sat down in the dirt next to Clemont. He suspected he was about to ask when he was going to start making breakfast—that was almost always the first thing Ash asked after waking up, no matter how tired he was—but was interrupted as Serena tiredly climbed out of her own tent. “Mornin, Serena!” He rushed over to her, haphazardly brushing the dirt off of his pants. Bonnie gave them a knowing glance that Clemont didn’t understand.
“Oh! Good morning, Ash!” She looked almost red in the face, for some reason. “Sorry if I kept you all waiting! I wasn’t expecting to be the last one awake…” She gave a quick glance at Bonnie. It wasn’t meant to be negative; just more of an observation that she was awake much earlier than usual.
“Well, now that we’re all up…” Ash didn’t even have to finish his sentence; Clemont already knew what he was about to say.
“Breakfast, right.” He stood up, brushing off the dirt and grass that had collected on his jumpsuit. “Bonnie, did you wanna try helping me today?” It wasn’t something they had explicitly discussed, but Clemont figured it would be best to teach her multiple recipes rather than just how to bake a cake. After all, she must have had some interest in cooking if a cake was the first gift that came to her mind.
“Oh.” She clearly hadn’t been expecting that, and wore a brief look of contemplation before a bright smile overtook her face. “Yeah! That would be so much fun!!” She jumped in place excitedly, Dedenne running in circles at her side. Suddenly, almost as if on impulse, she blurted out, “I love you, big bro!”
“I love you too, Bonnie.” She looked embarrassed to hear that said in front of Ash and Serena, looking away with a slight pout, but Clemont didn’t miss the small smile tugging at her lips as she did so.
He sincerely wished he could explain to her that those five words meant a thousand times more to him than any cake she could ever bake, but he didn’t expect someone so young to understand. So he’d take the cake she baked him, knowing that no matter how it tasted, how many steps she skipped or packets of glitter she put into the batter, it would be the sweetest he’d ever eat.