Chapter Text
“Whatcha’ doing?”
“Stress cooking”
“Whatcha’ cooking?”
“Cookies”
“Then technically that would be stress baking, right?” Xero gave his husband a smug look. Markoth answered with an annoyed gaze “Sorry, not the time to make a joke, I get it” his tone changed to a more serious one with a hint of worry that only the moth could notice “Now tell me” he paused a little as he walked closer towards the other from his place on the doorway of the kitchen “What’s wrong? You look pissed”
“I’d say more exhausted than pissed” he looked down at the blue bowl filled with ingredients and continued mixing aggressively, creating a smooth liquid batter that caused him to curse under his breath “But other than that, I’m fine Xero, really”
“Really?”
“Really”
They stood in silence looking at each other, Xero’s unamused face contrasted with the weird grin Markoth was trying to make so the ant wouldn’t bother him. Ding! the oven proclaimed, alarming and startling the taller bug, which caused him to pour almost the entire bag of flour in the bowl. Small particles of white powder spread quickly around the room. Both bugs coughed and shook their hands to get rid of the annoying dust-like specks that flew around.
After a few seconds, Xero looked at the other with worry, Markoth looked away in shame as he tightly closed his eyes and the ant sighed “It’s alright, come here” he got closer to the other bug and opened his arms, the moth accepted the embrace as he put his head on the other’s shoulder.
Small and muffled “I’m sorry’s” and “It’s ok’s” were said. The two hugged, ignoring the complete mess inside the kitchen. Several minutes later, Xero cupped the other's face and bumped their foreheads together, giggling as Markoth opened his eyes again. He blinked away the flour that was still in the air and moved his hands around the ant's hips to bring him closer. First, laughter filled the kitchen, then, small pecks were exchanged; the ant ruffled the other’s fluff and tons of white particles hidden inside it flew out.
The laughter turned into small snickers and then disappeared. The two looked at each other with warmth and love, but soon the worry that had been in Xero’s eyes before came back, mixing with the milky-white gaze that showed so much tenderness and affection “So, are you comfortable with telling me what or who caused you to be stressed out?” The soft tone that was used made Markoth’s stomach flutter. “Because I swear I’m going to kill them and rip their limbs apart” he giggled at his own joke.
The moth gave a big sigh, exhaling all the bad feelings out of his mind and once again settled his face on Xero’s shoulder, nuzzling against his neck “It-it’s my boss…again” he whispered.
“Wait here, I’m getting my nails-“
“Xerooo”
“What? I’m getting sick of that whore”
Markoth stopped the ant from moving away from him, his grip on the other’s hips was firm and a little bit rough. Just thinking about it made him angry and tired. Xero pulled him back into the crook of his neck, petting his fluff with a hum. Another “sorry” and “it’s ok” were exchanged.
“What did that bitch do now?”
“Xero”
He sighed “What did Radiance do now?” He said defeated “Though you cannot tell me she isn’t a bitch!”
“I don’t really want to go into full detail yet” he ignored the last comment “All I’m going to say is that she has been very whiny throughout the whole week. She has started to gossip and talk shit about every worker, and of course I have to stand still, listen to her disgusting comments and act as if she wasn’t saying anything bad. It’s really starting to get on my nerves” he huffed on Xero’s neck.
“Mmmm, I see” he hummed and nodded, still petting his husband “Well…for now, it’s probably best you get your mind off that and..” He looked around, his eyes landing on the blue bowl still filled with batter and a bunch of flour “What if we go back to baking the cookies, but this time without creating a mess” he smirked half-jokingly. Markoth nodded.
“I- I would like that” he purred “It’ll be a good ‘sorry for throwing flour around the whole damn kitchen’ gift to the family, I guess” he nuzzled more into Xero’s neck and lightly kissed him there, causing the other to giggle.
“That tickles- stop it” he said between laughs, trying to push his lover away yet failing as Markoth’s hold tightened around him.
Once again, laughter filled the room, a few kisses were given, hands slipped around each other, foreheads once again bumped gently and eyes were lovingly locked together. The flour powder in the air suddenly felt like sparks flying around them, electrifying them and warming them up. Happiness crept into their smiles, the stress was finally gone. It was only them and their love for each other.
Markoth picked Xero up, a sudden gasp came from him as he was placed on the kitchen counter “So” the moth interrupted the moment.
“So” the heat from their cheeks started to go away “How do we start, huh?”
“I’m…actually not sure”
“What”
“This is my first time making cookies by myself”
“Then what the heck were you doing earlier?” He scoffed at the other.
“I was stressed, I’m sorry” he gave a childish whine “I was just putting whatever I thought was- wait- do you smell that?”
Xero sniffed, it smelled like something was burning.
“Umm Markoth-“ he pointed at the oven.
“Holy shi-“ he quickly went to open the oven; burnt cookies were inside, of course, he got distracted with Xero.
“Was the ‘ding’ sound from before the oven?” Xero asked.
“Yeah..I forgot to take the cookies out” he pinched the bridge of his nose “I’m sorry” he said for the hundredth time.
“It’s alright, after all, we will make more cookies” he smiled.
“Right, let me look for a recipe” he said as he took his phone out. Xero went to get another apron, he asked Markoth to help him put it on and they both started baking.
All you could hear from outside the kitchen were laughs. Both men mixed and poured ingredients and from time to time Xero would grab some raw dough with his finger and taste it, getting reproached by his husband for it. They baked quite a lot of cookies, it took a long time, mostly because they were distracted by each other, but it didn’t matter to them.
As soon as No Eyes walked in the apartment, her nose sniffed. “Mmm, cookies” she walked slowly towards the kitchen; before entering, she was surprised by a claw touching her arm and gasped.
“Shit- sorry No eyes” Galien put his claws up, signing for her to relax, but immediately he put them down ‘Gosh dammit, she’s blind, Galien, she can’t see your claws’.
“It’s ok, Galien, could I ask why you stopped me from going into the kitchen and grabbing the cookies? You know I can still smell them, so don’t trick me” she frowned.
“Ok, first of all, the cookies are not ready yet. Second, you? In the kitchen? Hell nah, every little thing can mean death for you there” he grabbed the other’s wrist and led her to the couch. Marmu, Gorb and Elder Hu were all sitting there watching the TV. She took a seat and Marmu went rapidly towards her.
“No Eyes! No Eyes!” She smiled “Dad and Xero are baking cookies for us!”
“Xero’s baking??” someone cackled in the kitchen, the laugh was suddenly silenced, though.
“Yes..they have been there for hours now” Elder Hu stated “They didn’t let me sleep, so I decided to come out here, then the others came, and that’s how we all ended up here”
“Since when have they been there?” her voice sounded unamused.
“I don’t know exactly when they started, but Markoth came back home at like 6 p.m. and Xero maybe a few minutes later” the old man answered again.
Galien looked at the clock on the wall ‘8:11’ it read “Damn, they’ve been there for like 2 hours”
“Well, actually, what takes more time is putting the cookies in the oven and then letting them cool down” Markoth walked into the living room, he was holding a glass tray, you could see the millions of cookies inside. He placed it on the coffee table in the middle of the living room.
“Yeah, right, you guys were probably making out of some shi- AUCH” Galien was hit on the arm by Xero.
Gorb and Marmu looked in awe, their eyes sparkling at the site of the freshly baked cookies “How many did you make?” No eyes asked with a little bit of concern.
“A fuck ton, that’s for sure” Xero had another bowl, it was smaller than the tray, it contained the rest of the cookies.
“Should I ask why you two are all covered with flour and bits of dough?” Elder Hu said.
“It’s better not to” the couple looked nervously towards the kitchen, both the grandpa and the blind woman looked at them with suspicion (well, no eyes looked where she supposed they both were).
“Ahhh, they look so yummy!” Marmu extended her small paw towards the tray and grabbed one, golden and brown combining into the perfect creation. The caterpillar took the cookie in both hands and split it in two. It felt so soft as both pieces separated gently from each other, some melted chunks of chocolate could be seen inside. She finally bit a piece of it and god what a chocolate goodness it was! the cookie was so soft and delicious that Marmu melted, dramatically laying down on the floor and proclaiming “These are the best cookies EVER!”
Everyone started to grab the dessert; aside from the TV noise, all that they could hear was a bunch of hums of appreciation and delight. Slowly, the cookies were starting to disappear one by one, they all ate in silence until-
“ouCH WHAT THE FUCK” Galien took the cookie out of his mouth; this one was more crunchy than the rest, far more crunchy, and it also tasted badly-
“Oh yeah- we left some burned cookies in there too” the ant looked at the beetle with a smug face.
"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT”
“Because it’s fun to mess around with you guys” Xero laughed at his (not biological) brother.
Markoth grabbed the ant and cuddled with him, silently purring so that only Xero could hear him “My love” he whispered, tightening his hold “We seriously need to take a shower” he chuckled.
“Right- the flour-“ Xero looked down; the oversized red hoodie he was wearing (which he proclaimed was his even though it clearly was Markoth’s judging by the size) looked more pink than red and his knee-length pants were covered with big white spots “When are we going to clean up that mess?”
“What mess?” No Eyes, who was overhearing the couple, asked.
The couple looked at each other, death was at their doorstep. At least they will go down together, that thought alone made both laugh.
“Well you see No Eyes-“