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When he opened the door, Aiden found his roommate on the floor next to where his suitcase was, already unpacking it. Not surprising, Harvard was always the more organized one out of them.
He looked up for a second when Aiden came in but returned to focusing on putting his things back to their usual place when he saw who it was. “I’m guessing you’ve heard the news?”
“Yeah, I did.” Aiden dropped onto his bed. “It’s all over the school. Apparently, they canceled Christmas? Pity.”
“No, they didn’t.”
“Yeah, they did.” what was Harvard talking about? “A giant storm, staying inside here for the holiday instead of going home- any of this ring a bell?”
“Yeah, no, I know that,” Harvard said. “I just meant that, you know, Christmas isn’t canceled.”
Aiden was officially confused. “What?”
“Well, sure, we don’t have all the stuff we usually have at home here with us, or my family, which sucks, but at least we’re together, right?” From his position on the bed, Aiden could only sneak a glance over at him, but Harvard seemed to be serious, if a bit nervous for some reason. “Who says we can’t celebrate?”
Clearly, something was going on that Aiden did not know about.
“And how exactly should we do that?” he mused. “Decorate Dante instead of the tree? He is tall enough I suppose, if you have anything to decorate him with...”
He shifted his position to get a better look at Harvard’s face, expecting a chuckle in response to that or one of Harvard’s small grins that he saved exclusively for Aiden, he’d do almost anything for those, but there was something different about Harvard’s smile this time. A strange awkward edge to it. Enough to make Aiden rise up from the bed completely.
“Well, I thought…,” Harvard cleared his throat, slightly fidgeting as he rose up from the floor. “I thought maybe we could start by making Christmas cookies?” Cookies? That’s what Harvard seemed so nervous about? “Only if you want to, of course,” he added after a second, as if he’d thought Aiden might say no. As if there were a universe where Aiden would ever tell him no.
Aiden wasn’t much of a baker, his sweet tooth getting by more by the bonbons and other baked goods his admirers kept gifting him with, but if that was what Harvard wanted, Aiden would do it for him. Of course he would.
“I do,” he said, relieved to see the weird tense in Harvard ease with the answer. It was always a yes for Harvard, especially when it made his mood shift back to his normal self like that. Aiden hated seeing him stressed. “But how? It’s not exactly like we can do it right here, can we?”
Opening the door, Harvard gave Aiden a mischievous grin. “Leave that to me.”
***
Half an hour later, Aiden found himself standing in the school’s kitchens, which were normally restricted to everyone but the staff. He had no idea how Harvard managed to set this up, but by the way his best friend was glowing, it was already worth it.
“What’s next?” the question came from the pantry, where Harvard was getting the ingredients.
Aiden checked the list in front of him then yelled back, “Butter!” He looked down again. “And some sugar!”
“Anything else?”
Aiden checked the list again, just to be sure. “No, I think we’re good.”
He turned around just in time to see Harvard coming out of the pantry, clearly struggling to hold all the ingredients at once.
“Do you, eh,” Aiden held back a smile. “Do you need any help?”
“No, I got this,” Harvard said, the line of his mouth set in concentration, as he carefully made his way back to Aiden, magically managing not to drop a single thing.
Only when he put the ingredients down on the counter did Aiden realize Harvard was now wearing an apron on top of his clothes. In red letters, it read- ‘kiss the cook’.
Aiden bit his tongue. Oh, he wished.
“I found it in the back,” Harvard said, noticing Aiden’s look yet oblivious to its true meaning as always. “Do you want one too?”
Aiden thought for a second then shook his head for no. “I’m fine, thanks.”
Really, how messy can baking really be?
***
The next thing Aiden knew, he was covered in baking powder.
“You, uh,” Harvard said. “You have something on your,” he looked Aiden up and down, barely holding back a laugh. “Everywhere.”
Aiden took a quick look at himself then sighed. Harvard was right.
“Just, let me.” Harvard reached out a hand and cleared out some of the powder on Aiden’s face, his touch surprisingly gentle. “That’s better,” he said once most of it was off, Aiden about to make a joke about his dashing good looks in response when Harvard added, his expression fond, ”Here’s the face that I love.”
In the silence that followed, Aiden found himself, annoyingly, blushing. He immediately tried to wish it to disappear.
It wasn’t like Harvard really meant it in the way Aiden hoped him to, anyway. It was a passing observation, that was all. The sky was blue. The grass was green. Aiden was attractive. Universally acknowledged truths, he knew that.
Still, Aiden was suddenly incredibly aware of how closely they were standing now, Harvard’s warm breath tingling his skin and his soft eyes staring right into Aiden’s and- Too much. That was too much . He needed to focus .
“So,” Aiden said, slightly breathless, as he backed away a couple of steps. Trying to regain his composure, he wiped away the remaining powder from his face in one swift motion. “Now what?”
Harvard was looking down at the bowl rather than at him, probably calculating. “Putting it in the oven? I think enough of the baking powder went in, somehow.”
They both remained mostly quiet as they continued, taking turns mixing it until the texture was finally smooth without any noticeable chunks. Then Aiden took out the baking pan from where they put it earlier and set it down next to the bowl, watching as Harvard spooned the mix into it carefully, making almost-perfect tree shapes. When the whole pan was filled, they stuffed it into the oven.
“How long do you think we have to wait?” Aiden asked, bending down a little to watch the cookies through the glass.
“15 minutes, give or take?” Harvard replied. “I have to make the frosting now though. You might want to sit this one out, no offense.”
Aiden was torn between being deeply offended and incredibly thankful for the out he was given. “Is that a stub at my baking skills I hear? You’re besmirching my good name here, I tell you.”
“Good name?” Harvard teased.
Aiden elbowed him in the ribs, both of them grinning.
Nonetheless, he pulled out a chair for himself while Harvard made his way back to the counter to continue the work, bumping with Aiden for a second when he passed behind him. The warmth of his skin lingered on Aiden’s a couple of seconds longer before disappearing, leaving it now colder than Aiden preferred. He moved the chair closer to Harvard.
Harvard glanced up at the sound of the movement then back at the bowl, already beginning to mix the new ingredients. “We can play a game or something to pass the time if you’re bored. Or listen to some Christmas songs.” Before Aiden could object, Harvard added, “Or we can test each other about the material for history class? Mr. Gaudet mentioned today that they were thinking of giving us a test soon and-”
Throwing up his hands in defeat, Aiden pulled up his phone and pressed play on the first Christmas song he could find. There was absolutely no way he was going to think of anything school-work related right now and Harvard knew it too well, judging by his smug smile.
A bunch of songs later, Harvard of course singing along to every single one while Aiden buries his face in his hands in mock embarrassment but secretly smiling to himself, there was finally made a ding sound. The cookies were ready.
Aiden took back his chair a bit to make room for Harvard, already with oven-mittens on his hands, to take out the pan from the oven and place the cookies on the counter, ready to be decorated.
Once the cookies cooled down enough, Harvard handed him one of the icing pipe bags, filled with colorful frosting. Aiden held it on top of a cookie and squeezed. Alas, a worth continuous to his baking achievements so far, nothing came out.
“Don’t worry, we’ll do it together,” Harvard said in response, placing his hands on top of Aiden’s from behind him and, gently, squeezing the bag. This time, something actually came out. Not surprising, Aiden had long ago found that everything was better with Harvard by his side.
Their hands pressed together around it, Harvard guided the piping bag along the cookie, carefully texturing the green icing to look like pine needles, then stepped back to admire his handiwork with a glowing smile. “See, told you we can do this.”
Aiden was reluctant to remind him how much of it was really Harvard’s work.
“Do you want to try another one by yourself now?” He continued, looking at Aiden with an expression he couldn’t quite read as he put a new clean cookie next to the decorated one for them to work on.
Still feeling the ghost of warmth where Harvard had been a few seconds before, already wishing for its return, Aiden shook his head for no. “Together’s good.”
Like magic, Harvard’s hands were around him once more, placed on top of his on the bag.
“Okay,” he said, his breath tingling against Aiden’s neck. “Now pay attention. We have a lot of cookies to make.”