Cholate Cake

It was supposed to have been easy.

He had hours to do it, his boyfriend would go straight to the gym today after work and Laith himself had the day off. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

What was he making?

A cake, a simple dark chocolate cake in a little heart pan, covered in deep red icing, simple pink piping on the edges and with the words ‘I love you’ in white on top.

The first try, he’d somehow messed up the temperature and was left with a heart shaped lump of charcoal and a smoke filled apartment.

The next, he forgot the baking soda.

The third didn’t even reach the pan after the egg exploded, filling the batter with shells.

Then he’d forgotten to coat the pan and by the time he’d gotten all the cake out it was an unrecognizable mess.

The last though, the last was perfect.

His hair, once in a tight bun and now with many loose lengths, was blotched with flour and batter. The skin of his hands felt tight and dry from washing his hands so many times and his apron was stained with egg and icing.

As he looked at the cake, though, all he could feel was pride.

With a smile, he covered the cooled cake with the deep red icing, then he’d added the white piping, though it was a little uneven, he didn’t care. The ‘I love you’ had a few blob spots but you could read the message and that was what was important.

Gently, he pulled the cake off the counter, Thonel would be there any minute and if he wanted the cake to be a surprise he had to get the cake in the fridge right now.

With a skip to his step, Laith approached the fridge.

The next few seconds happened both in a blink of an eye, and an eternity.

His foot landed on something soft and he knew exactly what was going to happen before it did. His foot flew from under him, he flailed as much as he could, trying to regain his balance. When that failed and he began to fall, he threw down his hands to stop his descent.

The cake landed on the kitchen floor with a wet splat.

For a long moment, Laith sat, staring at the remains of the cake. He could feel his face begin to flush, the heat spreading from the bridge of his nose and to his ears before it crawled down his neck.

There was a burning, prickling sensation in his eyes, and the world began to grow distorted. The first few tears fell as he let out a shout, and lunged at the now ruined dessert. His hands shook as he reached out to touch it but stopped before they made contact, curling into shaking fists.

With all the grace of a toddler, he let out another bitter noise through his teeth, and slammed his hands down onto the mess. His hands came down again and again, sending icing and cake flying, until he was left sitting in the mess.

He didn’t hear the sound of the door over the sound of his own choked hiccups.

“Laith!?”

Laith looked up just in time to see Thonel rush into the kitchen, step squarely on a piece of stray cake, and fall flat on his backside.

Laith took in the sight of his boyfriend, still in his gym clothes, hair in it’s high ponytail with a dumbfounded look on his face and surrounded by the mess Laith had made with wide eyes and felt his lips twitch.

The twitch turned into a shaky grin, and the grin turned into soft, shaky laughter that grew until he was holding his sides. As he slowly melted to the floor Thonel’s deep laugh, just as unsettled as his own had started, joined in until the both of them were left in laughing heaps on the floor.

Laith tried to stop, but every time he looked towards Thonel, who’d let himself fall back until he was sprawled on the tile, he found himself laughing all over again. Thonel seemed to be afflicted with the same problem, as Laith looked over when he heard his laughs begin to subside, only to lock eyes and the pair fell back into even more peels of laughter.

Laith wasn’t sure how long they went on like this before they were left gasping and smiling.

At some point Thonel managed to crawl closer and pillow his head on Laith’s chest.

“So, what happened?” Thonel asked.

Laith let out a sigh, “I was making you a cake.”

“…A cake?”

“Yeah, you know, for Valentines. And I did, I made one, and then I dropped it.”

“…”

 Laith waved his arm in the vague direction of the trashcan, “the other four are in the trash.”

“…”

“And I might have thrown a bit of a tantrum,” he waved towards the ceiling, “and gotten cake on the ceiling, after I dropped it.”

“You made me five cakes.”

“Yeah.”

“As Valentine's presents.”

“Yup, for our first Valentine’s day together.”

Laith looked down as he felt Thonel begin to shake, he could feel stuttering puffs of air through his shirt.

“Are you laughing at me?”

“No… well, not really.”

“Thonel!” Laith pushed at him, “don’t laugh, we’ve just stopped!”

“I’m sorry I’m sorry, it’s just, it sounds like something out of one of those silly romcoms or soap operas you like so much.”

Laith let out a dramatic gasp, “they are not silly! You like them too, don’t you lie to me!”

“Not as much as you do.”

“Bullshit, you were crying just as much as I was when Erith woke from her coma!”

“I did not!”

“Oh, you so did, we were bawling like babies and you know it!”

Laith heard Thonel growl and then began to sputter as a clump of frosting covered cake was smashed into his face.

He stared, mouth agape as Thonel clambered off him, a smug smirk on his face. A smug smirk that was quickly covered with cake as Laith retaliated, smearing the cake over Thonel’s face. Thonel let out an outraged squawk, Laith let out a laugh as he scrambled away, and pulled himself up with help from the counter before he staggered as fast as he could into the living area.

Thonel was hot on his heels and tackled him into the couch, Laith letting out an oomph on impact.

“Ack, get off me you, you’re crushing me!”

“Sure, but not before I do, this!”

“Do wha- ACK NO! EW EWEWEW THONEL!”

Thonel rolled off Laith and onto the floor with a laugh as Laith surged up and began furiously wiping at the back of his neck.

“You LICKED me!”

“There was icing.”

“Did you have to lick it!?”

“Oh please, I’ve licked much more of you than your neck and you know it.”

As Laith’s face flamed he grabbed a cushion and smacked Thonel with it, “not the point!”

After a few smacks, Thonel surged up and caught Laith around the waist before twisting until he was sitting on the couch, Laith in his lap. Laith let out a squeak at the motion and dropped his cushion, before settling in to pout up at Thonel.

“Hey.” Thonel said.

Laith humphed.

Thonel lent forward, and placed a tender kiss on Laith’s temple.

“Happy Valentine’s day.”

Laith let out a whine before letting himself fall against Thonel’s chest.

“That was my line.”

“Well I don’t hear you saying it.”

“I was going to say it, when I gave you the cake.”

“Fuck the cake.”

“No, not fuck the cake I spent hours making that cake!”

“And I bet it looked amazing-”

“Damn right it did.”

“-but I appreciate the fact that you took the time to make it more than whether or not I ever actually got it.”

“And you say I’m the only one who likes the romcoms and soap operas.”

“Oi!”

Laith laughed at Thonel’s outrage before snuggling down into his chest.

“Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“... we’re going to have to clean the kitchen.”

“... damn it.”