The Lunar Chronicles Oneshots & Headcannons (TLC Wattys)

Official Rampion Pizza Day

Scarlet watched as Wolf stared intently at the fruits and vegetables displayed on the table in front of him. There were a variety of foods lain out, each paired with their own name tags. Anyone who did not know that he was studying for the test Scarlet, Cress, and Thorne had set up for him would've thought him to be mad, as he looked at the simple vegetables with fiery determination in his eyes.

Not long ago, Scarlet had come to the conclusion that Wolf needed a food education. Mostly because he was a grown man who could not tell the difference between broccoli and cauliflower, but also because Thorne had started to take advantage of Wolf's little knowledge. Thorne had taught Wolf dozens of silly, incorrect names for foods, who was eager to learn whatever he could. Thorne had even gone so far as to tell Wolf that the real name for strawberries was 'Carswell', when Wolf admitted how much he liked the fruit. Luckily, though, Scarlet had stepped in and made sure Wolf knew the correct name, and then decided to properly teach him everything he needed to know about food. That was right after Cinder told Thorne, "If strawberries really were named Carswell, no one would eat them."

For the past couple of weeks, Scarlet, Cress, and Thorne had all been trying to teach Wolf the names of different foods. Thorne found the whole prospect of Wolf fixedly analyzing pieces of asparagus comical, but Wolf was taking it far more seriously than anyone had expected. Every day he would spend an hour locked in his room, studying fruits and vegetables. Sometimes Cress would help him prepare for his upcoming test, as she, unlike Scarlet, wasn't a distraction to Wolf as he studied.

Scarlet was proud of Wolf for trying so hard, especially because she knew he was doing it all for her.

Today was the day of the big test, and Scarlet could see Wolf was nervous in the way his leg bounced up and down even faster than usual. She reached under the table and gently placed a hand on his knee, making the movement stop. Wolf looked away from the foods and up at her. "Don't worry about it, Wolf, you'll do fine." Scarlet coaxed. "I know you will. You've been studying like crazy." She noticed his tense body begin to relax, and continued. "Though no matter what happens, at least you know you'll get one food right." She picked up the juicy red tomato from the table and held it up before taking a bite. "Ready?" Scarlet asked, tossing the rest of the tomato to Wolf.

He took a bite of the tomato and smiled back at her. "Ready," he said, the determination evident in his vibrant green eyes.

Scarlet cleared the table of the foods and their name tags, then one by one held a fruit or vegetable out for Wolf to name. There were a lot of foods to cover, but Wolf's hard work payed off when he got every single one correct! He grinned at her, not bothering to cover up his usually well hidden fangs.

She leaned back in her chair and smiled. "I must say, Wolf, I'm impressed. You learned all that in two weeks, that's pretty amazing." This made him grin even wider, which Scarlet hadn't thought possible. Maybe there were some perks to his new reworked jawline. "However, Cress, Thorne and I have one more task for you to complete. It's almost dinner time, and we'll all be hungry soon, but dinner isn't going to cook itself." She smirked as realization dawned over his face for what his next test might be. "To see if you are able to apply your new knowledge of food in real life, we are having you prepare a meal. We'll give you the recipe, and then you have to find the ingredients and make it."

"What will I be making?"

"It's called pizza. I think you're really going to love it."

Scarlet gave him the recipe and he began making it with the same fierce concentration he'd had before. He seemed truly committed to doing well on his test, and each time she checked in on his progress, she could really see the pizza coming together.

Once, Scarlet caught Throne trying to show Wolf what to do. "It's supposed to be his test, Thorne!" She snapped. "You can't help him cheat!"

"Hey, I'm just trying to make sure nothing poisonous ends up in this pizza." Thorne shot back. "I am going to be eating it, after all."

"Well lucky for you," said Wolf, "Scarlet will be eating this pizza as well. So as much as I'd like to add a drop of poison to your food, I won't be doing it today."

Soon their dinner was finished, and Wolf presented it to Cress, Thorne and Scarlet with a proud smile which was just big enough to see the fangs protruding from his mouth. Usually they would have looked intimidating, but it was hard to take him seriously with his oven mitts and the pink apron he had tied around his waist. Scarlet couldn't help but smile as he handed her a plate with a slice of cheesy pizza on top, thinking he looked adorable.

They all sat in the cockpit, stuffing their mouths with pizza. Scarlet had to admit, Wolf had done an incredible job on it. She wished they had asked him to make more.

They had all been silent, munching away at their dinner, until Thorne spoke up. "We should make this an annual thing. April 28 - Official Rampion Pizza Day."

"We should definitely do that." Cress agreed. "I've never had pizza before, and this is awesome."

Scarlet and Thorne both stared at Cress in shock. "I can't believe both of you are eating this for the first time!" Thorne said. "We are totally making this a thing. You guys need to make up for all your missed pizza-eating opportunities." He shook his head and looked at Cress. "Aces, Luna really needs to better their cuisine. First you tell me you'd never had cake until Cinder's coronation, and now you and Wolf are having pizza for the first time? This is unbelievable."

Scarlet nodded. "Honestly, guys, you can never have enough pizza. I don't know how you survived without it." She took another bite of the delicious pizza, swallowed and said, "By the way Wolf, in terms of how the test went, you definitely passed."

When he smiled at her, she could tell he knew that all his hard work and perseverance had payed off. Wolf had put in a big effort to study for his test, but she knew his willingness to learn had not been for a food education - he had wanted to impress Scarlet, which he had. But not because he had done well on his test, or because now he could tell the difference between broccoli and cauliflower. It was really because he had been so driven, so determined to make her happy. She knew that Wolf would do anything for her, and that was what made her most proud. That was why she loved him.