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It's Kyojuro's birthday and you tried - God, did you try - to be a good girlfriend. Granted, being a good girlfriend doesn't hinge on properly baking the perfect cake for your boyfriend, but when you had no other ideas as to what to get your perfect beloved for his birthday, it seemed very important. A sweet potato cake with marshmallow fluff frosting, full of love and baked with pride. That's what it was supposed to be, but things had gone wrong from the very start.
You had decided to make it all from scratch, with fresh sweet potatoes. You'd made mashed potatoes before to relative success, and so you figured you could make the necessary sweet potato mash, too. Only you couldn't. You were sure the mash felt too soupy, tasted too bland. You knew that with baking, following the steps was necessary for success but surely a little cinnamon couldn't hurt? You had meant to put in only a teaspoon, but the lid fell off and dumped a whole pile of cinnamon into the mash.
You thought you could salvage it, but every step after was a nightmare. You were sure you got egg shell in the batter, measuring and sifting out flour was a nightmare, you messed up mixing everything so bad that batter flew all over the place - including on yourself - and when all was said and done, you and the kitchen were covered in batter, flower, butter, egg and spices. And all you had to show for it was a lumpy three-layer cake that was sliding apart.
You couldn't give this to Kyojuro. Sure, he'd eat it, and no doubt praise it's deliciousness but you'd know the truth. You'd know he was just forcing himself to eat it because he loved you, and therefore that made the cake precious. You couldn't force him to do that - but it seemed, you would have no choice. Everything took longer than you'd expected and before you had a chance to clean up and throw the cake away, you heard the front door open.
Immediately, you're scrambling around the kitchen, trying futilely to hide the evidence as if it could possibly make any difference. When you hear him calling out to you, you know there's no way you can hide the mess of a cake you attempted to bake for him.
"Y/n, I'm home!" His voice is loud, echoing through the front part of your home and reaching you in the kitchen. You feel dumbstruck for a moment, every process failing you, before you open your mouth and all back.
"I, uh, I'm in the kitchen!" You brush a strand of hair out of your face and smile uncomfortably to Kyojuro when he enters the kitchen. As if he notices nothing amiss, he walks over to you and wraps you in his arms, lifting you off your feet like he always does. This lightens your mood substantially, though anxiety still bubbles in your gut.
"Put me down! Can't you see that I'm a mess?" You ask, tapping his shoulders until he drops you back on your feet. With his hands on your shoulders, he puts just enough distance between the two of you to survey how you look, apron caked with what should have been in the cake.
"So I see! What have you been getting up to?" And there's the million dollar question. You wonder if you can lie your way out of it, but you know you can't so you simply sigh and move aside so that he can see the disaster sitting on the counter. "Oh, what is this?" He asks enthusiastically.
"It's supposed to be a cake. For you. Happy birthday, Kyojuro." You don't sound particularly excited, too overwhelmed by embarrassment at not even being able to properly make a cake for your boyfriend.
"For me? Y/n, you spoil me!" He pulls you close to plant a lingering kiss on your forehead. All the tension in your body starts oozing away as soon as his lips touch your skin. His kisses do this to you - they calm you, even when you're worked up into a state. "You didn't have to do that." There's a soft quality to his voice as he embraces you anew.
"Yea, well, don't get too excited. I messed it all up." You pout against his shoulder, wrapping your arms around him in return. His laugh makes your head bob up and down, an infectious sound that causes a smile to creep across your features.
"I'm sure that's not so! It looks delicious." He says it with so much sureness that you almost believe him. Then again, Kyojuro was never much of a picky eater when it came to how something looked, so maybe he was being genuine. "Won't you cut us a slice, then?" He asks as you disentangle yourself from him.
"Yea, yea, but don't say I didn't warn you!" You warn with amusement, getting a knife, plate and fork ready. Cutting a piece of the precarious cake turns out to be a messy affair and when all is said and done, it looks more like a lump on the plate than a slice of cake. "Knock yourself out." You say, sliding the plate towards him.
He accepts the cake with no hesitation, forking a bite and sticking it into his mouth. "Tasty!" He exclaims as soon as he swallows a bite, and you give him a dubious look. He laughs again and says: "I'm serious! Try a bite!" Forking a bite for you and bringing it to your lips. You figure if he has to suffer for your mistake, you can suffer with him and take the bite.
Immediately, it's unpleasant. Overpowering cinnamon, mushy cake, the frosting is far too sweet. It's not as disastrous as you anticipated, but it's still pretty bad. "Kyo!" You whine over a half eaten bite of cake. "It's horrible! You can't eat this." You try to take the plate from him but he holds it high above your head.
"This cake was made with your love! That alone makes it more decadent than even the finest chocolate!" He proclaims with passion and you look at him with only fondness in your eyes. "I'll eat every last bite!" He promises, bringing the plate down once more to take another bite. "Tasty!"
You smile and shake your head. "Whatever you say." You lean forward to steal a kiss. "I love you." You say sweetly, licking frosting from your lips.
"I love you too." He says with a smile. "Thank you for the cake. It's the best birthday gift I could have asked for!" And when he says it, you almost believe him.