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Cake was a rare treat, in Henry's mind.
Rare to see, rare to find, rare to have.
Even before he made his home in the Studio, Henry rarely ever got to have some. Probably because humans only ever had cake on special occasions, so it was never really around for a Borrower like him to get a piece from.
Which made the presence of the cake in the back office of the management area that much more eye-catching. Henry had nearly stumbled from his hiding space in the ceiling when he saw it on his borrowing trip. He crouched in his hiding place above the shelves pressed against the wall, looking down at the neatly boxed treat sitting innocently on the desk far below.
Henry vaguely remembered hearing from one of the offices earlier in the week that the Studio had signed a deal with a larger playing company to get their cartoons shipped out and played in larger theaters, so he could only assume that there was a party being planned for the staff. And, therefore, it was for the staff to eat at the party.
By that logic, Henry shouldn't even be considering borrowing from it.
Borrower's should only take what wouldn't be missed. And bits from a cake still in the box would definitely be missed.
Except...
There was a cake. An unguarded, fresh, still soft, cake. And it was just sitting there.
Henry's desire for a fresh treat (and not something that had had time to get hard and lose its taste) was at war with his common sense as Borrower. The sense that said he should skip it, that it wasn't worth the risk of leaving a trace of his presence in the studio where the humans could see it, that he didn't even need to get anything from it. But...
When would he get a chance like this again?
He gripped at his grappling hook and started untangling it from his belt.
He only had one shot at this, and no idea when a human would come back to check on the treat and make sure no one had snuck bites of it. (Especially the Janitor, he had an appetite unlike anyone the Borrower had ever seen before.)
Henry had room in his pack, now it was time to see how much he could get away with before he had to hightail it out of there.
~~B~O~R~R~O~W~E~R~~H~E~N~R~Y~~
Wally knew he shouldn't have gone back for the cake he'd seen while cleaning earlier. If he was caught eating some of the cake for the Studio party, he would be in a *ton* of trouble. But there was a gosh darn cake back there!
It was a temptation the Janitor couldn't resist. (And honestly, it was one he didn't really want to resist.)
He snuck back to the office he remembered seeing them in, keeping an eye out for anyone who would either stop him or rat fink him. But slowed when he saw that the door to the office in question was open. Open and with someone standing in the doorway. Wally felt his heart sink to his feet when he realized who it was.
"Franks." Sammy's voice was even, and his tone was blank. Worryingly so. He couldn't tell what Sammy was feeling with that tone. "Were you aware that I had a cake in this room?"
His nervousness promptly skyrocketed. Wally couldn't tell if he should act casual or take off like a bat out of hell.
"Cake? I don't know anything about a cake." Sammy's eyes narrowed.
"Oh really? So you don't have any idea how this could have happened to my cake?" He said coolly, stepping aside and jabbing a finger inside. Wally carefully approached, peering into the room. Everything was still in the same place as when he'd come in earlier.
The bookcase was still pushed against the wall, the desk right next to it, the file cabinets tucked in one corner, the chair was still sticking out slightly, the cake box had a hole ripped in the side of the cardboard- Wait a sec.
"What the heck?! How did this happen?" Wally gaped at the box. Who had done that?! He hurried forward to examine the damage.
He hadn't thought anyone but him (and apparently Sammy) had known the cake was there, so no one else should have been able to go after it. Who would have snuck in there to steal some of the cake? And why would they just open a hole in the side of the box instead of actually opening it?
His eyes followed the crumbs and icing smears off the edge of the desk, before going back to the slightly sloppily dug hole in the box. The hole that was too small for someone's hand to get inside…
"Oh, crap…" He muttered, looking back at the music director. "I think we might have mice in the studio."
~~B~O~R~R~O~W~E~R~~H~E~N~R~Y~~
It had been a chocolate cake. With chocolate frosting.
Henry happily licked the frosting from his hands while strolling through his tunnels. It had been a risk. A big risk. But it had been worth it. Completely worth it.
(Until a week later, when Henry would be cursing his sweets while replanning his routes to avoid the Mouse Traps that had been placed throughout the studio.)