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Ugly, black smoke billowed out of the oven as the door fell open, and Patton coughed and choked as it blew into his face. His throat burned and his eyes watered, but he persevered in order to retrieve the tray sitting inside the appliance. The pastry sitting atop it had been reduced to charcoal, and Patton sighed as he stood, closing the oven door with his foot.
“Why Patton, that looks absolutely delectable,” a familiar voice drawled from the entrance to the kitchen.
Patton looked over his shoulder and grinned. “Hey, Janus!” The grin turned sheepish and Patton’s eyes shifted towards the ground. “Yeah, it wasn’t a great effort, I’ll admit. I’m not exactly the best at baking.”
“You don’t say.”
Patton forced out what he hoped sounded like a lighthearted giggle before turning his head back towards the bench, where the disaster of a pastry still sat. He placed his hands on the edge of the bench, his grip tightening slightly as tears pricked his eyes.
There were footsteps behind him. They gradually increased in volume as they got closer until they stopped, and a hand found its way onto Patton’s shoulder.
“Practice makes perfect.” The burnt pastry vanished, and Patton immediately knew it had been Janus’ doing. “Though if you are going to try again, I must insist on supervising. I doubt anybody would take kindly to a kitchen on fire.”
A startled laugh — a genuine one — escaped Patton, and he twisted slightly to swat Janus’ shoulder before turning around completely, momentarily mourning the loss of contact as Janus’ hand on his shoulder withdrew.
“Hey, I’m not that bad!”
“Whatever you say,” Janus teased, just narrowly dodging another swat at his shoulder as he moved to another area of the kitchen to supervise.
“Patton, that’s salt.”
Patton blinked and looked over at Janus, his brow furrowed in confusion. “What?”
Janus pointed at the packet of salt sitting on the kitchen bench alongside several other ingredients. “You got the salt out of the cupboard instead of the sugar.”
Patton looked at the packet. “Oh!” He giggled sheepishly. “Whoops.”
Janus gracefully brushed past Patton and retrieved the sugar from the cupboard. He placed it with the other ingredients, then grabbed the salt and put it back so there wouldn’t be any confusion.
Patton smiled. “Thanks, Janus.”
Janus stopped. He… actually had no idea how to respond to that. Sure, he’d been thanked for stuff before, but the sincerity in Patton’s voice had caught him off guard.
“Oh. I… you’re welcome, Patton.”
Patton grinned and went back to preparing his culinary masterpiece. A moment later, he looked back over at Janus.
“Janus?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you… doing anything today?”
Janus frowned. “No, I don’t think I have any plans. Why?”
“Well, do you want to help me? With the baking?”
Janus blinked, and it took him a moment to remind himself that no, Patton didn’t hate him and no, this wasn’t a ploy to get him to lower his guard.
“I…” Patton frowned at Janus’ hesitation. “I would really like that, Patton.”
Patton’s eyes lit up with something Janus couldn’t quite place. Hope, perhaps?
“Really?”
Janus’ expression relaxed into a sly smile. Patton’s face dropped, but then Janus used his extra arms to gather the necessary ingredients and drop them in a large bowl, while at the same time preheating the oven.
“Well, it would be rather silly of me if I were to just watch you burn the kitchen down, wouldn’t it?”
Janus was promptly assaulted by flour.