Work Text:
This day was special, Elio had decided. The alarm had awoken him and unlike any other day, he was happy he hadn’t died in his sleep. Today was Caelum’s birthday. His roommate, his friend, his boyfriend. He wanted to do something special for his boyfriend. Nothing extravagant, but something he wouldn’t normally do. He wanted to bake him a cake.
Elio had found a recipe that looked easy to follow. Red velvet cake. He had once told Elio that that was his favorite cake, so Elio wanted it to be perfect. He found the ingredients he needed, and laid them out on the kitchen counter. He had even gone shopping the day before, just to make sure he had everything he needed. He wasn’t really good at baking and had baked at most 4 cakes in his life. So he was extra careful at every step in the recipe.
He started mixing the batter, and he actually felt like he was doing a good job, he felt confident in what he was doing. Putting the batter in the cake pan was surprisingly hard for him, but he did it without spilling and when he put it in the oven he found himself smiling to himself. It was an odd feeling he wasn’t used to anymore.
Right as Elio closed the oven, Caelum came out of his room and went straight for the bathroom. He didn’t acknowledge Elio, almost like he hadn’t seen him. He heard the shower starting to run and after 20 Caelum left in the same manner as he came. Without acknowledging Elio in any way.
The cake was finished in the oven and the whole apartment was filled with a delicious smell. As the cake cooled down Elio made the cream cheese frosting, and put it carefully on the cake. It looked finished and Elio was proud of himself. It wasn’t pretty, but he hoped it tasted good. He cut out two slices and put them both on different plates. He put both the plates on the dinner table and now it was time to show Caelum his masterpiece.
Elio knocked on and opened his door with a small smile.
“What’s wrong?” Caelum asked, without looking at him.
“I made something for you.” That caught Caelum’s attention. It wasn’t often Elio made anything.
Elio led Caelum to the dinner table and instructed him to take a seat and also took a seat of his own.
“Happy birthday, Caelum.”
But Caelum sat there unmoving in his chair. No reaction whatsoever.
“I don’t deserve this.” He said, barely in a whisper.
“What?” Elio almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“I don’t deserve this.” He said again a little louder.
“What? Of course you do, why wouldn’t you?” Elio said in a reassuring tone. At that, Caelum just shook his head lightly.
“Why would I deserve this? I have a shit paying job and I haven’t achieved anything worthwhile this year.” Tears started forming in the corners of Caulum’s eyes. Elio could feel tears starting to form on his own. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go at all.
“You don’t need any big achievements to deserve cake on your birthday.” Elio tried to calm him down.
“You don’t understand…” He said in a whisper.
A silence fell between them. Elio couldn’t find the right words Caelum wanted to hear. He felt helpless. He wanted to do something but no matter what, he felt like he would just make the situation worse.
“I’m sorry…” Caelum said as he made the motions to leave. Elio grabbed his wrist.
“No, don’t… Please…” his voice broke. Caelum sat down again. Elio took a deep shaky breath.
“I don’t know why you think you don’t deserve this, but you do. You deserve so much more than this. I know I’m bad at showing how much you mean to me, but you mean so much to me. You have helped me so much since I met you, and it’s a mistake from me not to have paid you back in any way yet. There are some days I wake up and I don’t want to die, and I know that doesn’t sound like much, but it’s something. You have helped me so much, let me repay you for it. I love you. You deserve the world.”
Caelum started to sob, “I’m sorry…”
“Don’t apologize,” He pulled him into a hug. “You haven’t done anything wrong.”
They sat like that for a while, with Caelum sobbing into Elio’s shoulder, and him whispering sweet nothings into his ear.
“No one has ever said such nice things to me.” Caelum admitted through broken sobs.
“Then I wouldn’t mind telling you a million times again.”
Caelum eventually calmed down and let go of Elio.
“I’m sorry I ruined your gift.”
Elio shook his head. “I mean it’s still there if you want it.”
He stared at the piece in front of him for a few seconds, and eventually decided he wanted to taste the cake. He chewed slowly, but Elio couldn’t see any look of disgust in his face so he took it as a good sign.
“It’s really good.” He finally said. Elio smiled. “Save some for later, okay?” Elio nodded.
“Let's watch a movie.” Caelum took Elio’s hand and got up from his seat. “I’ll pick.”
“That sounds nice.”