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“Hey, Uncle Shiro, when is your birthday?”
Shiro looked up from his tablet. It had been a quiet flight in the Black Lion for the past hour and he had assumed Ryou had dozed off.
“My birthday?” Shiro muttered as he frowned. “Uh..February 29th.”
Ryou gave a thoughtful nod, but then paused. “Wait...you were born on a leap year-”
“Yes,” Shiro said as he gently cut him off, “and I would appreciate if you don’t tell Lance and Pidge.”
He gave a sigh. He got enough birthday jokes about as is. If Lance and Pidge found out they be joking of him being the ‘youngest’ after Ryou.
“Oh, okay,” Ryou said as he leaned back against the wall with a tight frown.
Shiro narrowed his eyes as he reached out and patted Ryou’s head. “Something bothering you?”
Ryou shrugged. “Nothing major.”
“But?” Shiro asked. He knew that look. Something was eating at the kid.
Ryou chewed his bottom lip as he turned his head. “Just wondering..if I have a birthday.”
“Of course you do,” Shiro replied as he set down the tablet. “Rather hard to be born without one.”
“But I mean I wasn’t ‘born’ like you were,” Ryou said as he hugged his knees to his chest. “If I’m your clone, does that mean your birthday is mine?”
Shiro opened and shut his mouth. He had to be careful how he answered this. He didn’t care if Ryou shared his birthday, but he wanted to prove Ryou was his own person.
“It can be,” Shiro said as he wrapped an arm around Ryou’s shoulders. “Although, you weren’t ‘born’ on that day.” He gave a smile. “I think your birthday should be the day we found you.”
Ryou looked uncertain as he fiddled with his lion pendant. “I guess that makes sense.”
Shiro offered a smile as he rubbed Ryou’s shoulder. “May I ask what brought this on?”
Ryou blushed. “I was thinking about cake.”
Shiro blinked. “Cake?”
“Yeah, like I know what it is but I’ve never eaten it, but then I was thinking what kind of birthday cake I would want, except I don’t know when that is-”
Shiro laughed as he ruffled his hair. “Alright, I can see the train of thought.”
He gave a half smile. Shiro had never much of a sweet tooth growing up, but that didn’t mean Ryou wouldn’t have one.
“We could ask Hunk to make a cake later when we stop for the day,” Shiro said. “We should be landing soon.”
Ryou gave a half smile as he rubbed his neck. “Yeah, but I don’t want to bug him. He and Pidge have to make repairs, right?”
“You’re not wrong,” Shiro replied quietly.
Hunk was busy, but Shiro suddenly felt the urge to treat Ryou. With everything he had been through, Shiro couldn’t resist spoiling the boy as much as he was able.
“And it’s not like we can bake in here,” Ryou continued as he looked up at the ceiling.
Shiro paused as a thought struck him. “Huh...maybe we can.”
Ryou tilted his head as Shiro got up and opened one of the crates of supplies they had stored on the Black Lion. “Ryou, remember where those mugs are? The ones Coran bought from that last market?”
“Uh..yeah,” Ryou said as he pointed to the small box in the corner. “Why?”
Shiro grinned as he brought out a few small bags of supplies. “I’m going to make you a cake.”
Ryou wrinkled his nose and looked as if Shiro had gone crazy. “Uh..how?”
“This crate as a lot of the baking supplies Hunk uses,” Shiro said as he set them on the floor. “We don’t need much, but I know of a recipe that we can stir together in a mug. We should be able to make two small size cakes.”
“Uh, that’s neat and all, but we don’t have a way to bake it,” Ryou said with his hands tucked behind his head.
“Actually we do,” Shiro said as he pointed to the far back. “The emergency heater. It’s suppose to be to heat up rations when stranded, but we can use it to bake our cakes.”
Ryou’s eyes widened and slowly he gave a small smile. “Really?”
“Sure,” Shiro said as he sat on the floor. “Bring me a mug and a spoon. We’ll see what we can make.”
“Okay!” Ryou gleefully raced to the box as Shiro began to measure in his head of what he needed. It wouldn’t be the best cake in the world, but it would be tasty enough to do the job.
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Ryou had been delighted with his mug cake and Shiro couldn’t resist puffing his chest out with a bit of pride. He ended up making basic vanilla cakes, but after taste testing the batter it had seemed decent. At the very least, Ryou had declared it yummy enough to devour and pat his stomach like a happy cat.
“That was good!” Ryou said as he licked the crumbs off his fingers.
Shiro laughed and held up his cake mug. “Glad you approve. You can have mine if you want.”
Ryou looked tempted to snatch it, but paused as he looked to Shiro. “You sure?”
“Positive,” Shiro said. “I only needed a couple of bites.”
It was then they felt the Black Lion landed.
“Okay, we’re here,” Keith declared over the intercom. “You guys okay?”
“We’re eating cake!” Ryou yelled with his mouthful.
“What?”
Shiro laughed as he brushed the crumbs off of Ryou’s face. “Get in here and we’ll explain.”
A few minutes later, Keith entered and blinked at the scene. “How are you guys-”
“Shiro baked me a mug cake,” Ryou said as he held up his mug. “Want some?”
“I’m good,” Keith said as he waved a hand and looked inside. “Also, I’m amazed it’s not burnt.”
Shiro narrowed his eyes. “Hey, I can cook a little bit.”
“Wait, hold it,” Hunk said in the helmets. “What’s this about baking?”
“Come into the Black Lion,” Keith said as he patted Ryou on the head and smirked. “You’ll see what we mean.”
Within a few minutes Hunk appeared, blinked and slowly his eyes widened as he looked to Ryou. “What are you eating?”
“A cake,” Ryou declared as he held out the remains of it. “Want some?”
Hunk’s eye twitched as he looked to Shiro. “You made Ryou a mug cake?”
“Yes,” Shiro said with a raised eyebrow. “Something wrong with that?”
Keith covered his mouth and looked close to laughing as Hunk tossed his arms up in the air.
“Ryou has never eaten a cake before and you made his first one be a mug cake?” Hunk crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s like giving someone microwave mac and cheese when they’ve never had the real thing. It’s a bad start.”
Shiro pouted as his shook a finger. “Hey, first of all microwave mac and cheese is delicious.”
“I can’t believe I heard someone just say that,” Hunk retorted.
“Second, mug cakes are just find if you want something small and not waste a lot of stuff,” Shiro continued.
Keith snickered as he tapped into his helmet. “Lance, you need to get in here. Shiro and Hunk are arguing about cooking quality.”
“No, I’ll pass,” Lance replied. “I argue with Hunk enough about frozen pizza.”
“They taste like cardboard,” Hunk said into the helmet as he returned his glare to Shiro. “Look, I’m not saying they’re terrible, there can be good recipes, but Ryou’s first tasting of a cake should be delicious.”
“But it is good,” Ryou said as he held up the mug. “Try it, Hunk.”
Hunk looked doubtful as he took the mug and ate a bite. He went silent as he chewed and suddenly he cringed as if he bit on a pepper.
“This taste like burnt caramel,” Hunk commented as he handed the mug back to Ryou. “Not too mention there is way too much sugar.”
“It’s fine, Hunk,” Shiro said as he rolled his eyes.
“No, it’s a crime this is this poor’s child first cake and I’m going to correct that,” Hunk said as he stormed off. “Once Pige and I are done with repairs I’m baking.”
Shiro, Ryou and Keith silently watched Hunk leave. No one said a word until Ryou swallowed his current mouthful. “Does this mean I’ll get more cake?”
“The way the Hunk talked you might get cake for the next month,” Keith commented.
Shiro shook his head as he stole a bite out of Ryou’s mug. “I wonder if we could get ice cream for this?”