Work Text:
December 28th, 2008
Chocolate Chiffon Cake is a light, airy cake with a sweet and deep, rich chocolate flavor and springy texture. It is Katsuya’s favorite cake; a dessert he could eat tenfold and never get sick of. (A simile that became figurative in the summer of 2004. After that, no one dared to question the older man's love of sweets and just how far he’d go for them.)
Knowing this, Jun has taken up the bold, challenging endeavor to bake one for his brother-in-law- It’s his birthday in 2 days time, with a small celebration being hosted by Katsuya’s wife, Maya. She had insisted Jun take up the role of ‘cake maker’, as she so eloquently put it. Because, really, would it be a birthday party without a cake?
Maybe, Jun reassesses, maybe it’s not really ‘bold’, he’s just doing what’s told. But it is quite challenging- not because of making the cake, oh no. Chiffon Cakes are quite easy, Jun could make them in his sleep- plus he is a really good baker. (The ‘bestest’, according to his son. A statement he’s quite proud of. )
No, the challenging part would be teaching his dear, lovable, absolutely horrid baker, husband Tatsuya.
Jun loves this man, truly he does- he plans on spending the rest of his life with him, is raising an adorable little troublemaker with him, would fight the gods for this man- but he just cannot bake. He can cook, but he cannot bake. Not in the slightest.
(Jun has heard the horror stories from when Katsuya attempted to teach his little brother, and long story short, Jun has been hesitant to let his husband in the kitchen since.)
But Maya had been adamant that Tatsuya help. ‘It’d just be more special if Tatsuya lended a hand,’ she had told him, ‘you know how he is about Tatsuya.’ And he does know how he is about Tatsuya. Katsuya practically raised his little brother; he adores him entirely and adores whatever Tatsuya puts genuine effort into.
So, really, Maya had a point. And who was Jun or Tatsuya to tell her no?
This should be simple enough, right?
“Alright,” Jun hums, pointer finger drifting along the recipe page. “I’m pretty sure we have all the ingredients, Tacchi-” He lifts his head up; to the right of them- closer to Jun, the dry ingredients, all measured out in bowls. Granulated sugar, baking powder, cake flour and…uh where is it- ah there it is! Cocoa powder, hidden behind the flour.
Jun reaches forward, pushing the cake flour bowl to the side.
Now to the left of them, closer to Tatsuya; the wet ingredients. Nearly a dozen large eggs, some vanilla extract, sesame oil, and milk.
Yep, that’s all of them. So far so good.
Jun claps his hands, nodding to himself as he looks up to his husband. Tatsuya is awkward in his stance; from the way he scans the countertops with a vague unease to the flower patterned apron squeezing on him a bit too tightly- probably should’ve gotten one his size, Jun thinks. Though it’s not like Jun is complaining, not at all. After all, it’s helping accentuate his- uh, perhaps, he shouldn’t think about this right now. Akira is playing in the other room, and well, they are trying to bake…
Ignoring the tingle in his cheeks, portraying itself as a pinkish flush, Jun reaches out to his husband. He takes one of his hands- softer than Jun’s own, who have grown rough and calloused after years of gardening- and cups it gently in Jun’s. He likes his husband’s soft, larger hands.
“We got this, Tacchi,“ he assures, casting Tatsuya a soft grin. He presses a kiss against the back of Tatsuya’s hand.
Tatsuya blinks, flushing slightly as Jun attempts comforting him. His lips quirk into a half smile, before falling back down into a frown. He takes a sigh, squeezing Jun’s hand.
“Are you sure…? I’m just- I don’t- “
“Deep breaths, Tatsuya.”
“...I just- don’t want to mess this up for Katsuya.” He slumps forward, looking at the yet-to-be-mixed substances. Tatsuya bites his bottom lip, fixating his gaze back down to Jun.
He gives his husband this sort of kicked puppy dog expression and Jun melts. He wants nothing more than to pull Tatsuya down and pepper his love’s face with kisses, beating away that expression forever. He can’t right now, but Jun makes a note for after all this? Shower his husband in kisses.
“I know,” Jun says, patting his husband's arm. “But like I said before, we got this, Tacchi. “Your brother will love it regardless. I’m certain he’ll be proud of you for even trying.” Tatsuya gives an unreadable look before Jun teasingly adds, “Besides, if we can raise the adorable menace that’s Akira, we can do anything.
Tatsuya looks taken aback, staring for a pause before letting out a chuckle. “Okay,” he relents, “you have me there.”
(Akira, playing with his new Neo-Feather Men toys in his room, freezes suddenly. He lowers the toy slowly, suddenly feeling offended and quite possibly dramatic.)
Jun, perhaps, spoke too soon on the whole ‘we can handle anything’ statement. Jun had decided to give Tatsuya what he deemed the simpler of the tasks- mix the wet ingredients before adding the dry while Jun separated the egg yolks from the egg whites.
Jun hadn’t even cracked 6 eggs yet when suddenly, the wet mixture goes everywhere. Across their aprons. And countertops. And faces. Hair. Floors- like Jun said, everywhere.
Jun slowly lowers the empty eggshells, “Tatsuya.”
Tatsuya, at a snails pace, turned towards him. His face was entirely covered in the chocolate, eggless blend. He wipes his mouth with his sleeve, “Yes?”
“How?”
Tatsuya is silent for a pregnant pause before offering his answer, “I think I turned the mixer too high.”
Jun gives his husband an exasperated look. He has used the beater at it’s highest pace before; it has never done this before. What god did Tacchi piss off for it to-
Wait a minute.
Jun conveniently reminds himself of the fact Tatsuya has an interest in mechanics. Always has; able to fix or put together just about anything most of the time. Most of the time. He lets out a groan, while Tatsuya reaches forward, attempting to clean the gunk out of Jun’s hair.
“Did you mess with the appliances again, Tacchi? You know it never goes well.” Jun watches Tatsuya cringe, giving him the definitive answer. “I have told you, don’t mess with them.” He says more sternly, somewhat pouting.
Tatsuya gives a grunt, dusting off Jun’s shoulders. He shifts around awkwardly- well, Tatsuya-lly. “I know, I just- wanted to see if I could get them working faster- to get this done faster.”
“...You really didn’t want to do this that much?”
“...No?” His husband offers.
“You know,” Jun begins, subtly reaching past Tatsuya, grabbing a fistful of the remaining flour. “You could’ve just told me that. I would’ve been happy to do that work and say you helped me. But now we have wasted both ingredients and time. Plus, the mess, Tacchi.”
Tatsuya gives Jun an apologetic look. And he means it, that Jun knows. “I know- I’m sorry, I’ll clean it, I promise.” He says earnestly, kissing Jun’s forehead. When he pulls back, he licks at his lips. Hmm. Chocolatey.
“I know you will, Tatsuya,” Jun says; Tatsuya always keeps to his word. But first, Jun feels like he’s owed some sort of payback. He’s anything if not petty, “But you’ll also be cleaning up this.”
Before Tatsuya could say anything, Jun threw the handful of cake flour into his face, giggling crazily.
“What the-” Tatsuya stammers, coughing from the sudden flour related attack. It doesn’t take him long to process what just happened. “You little shit-”
Tatsuya grabs his own fistful of flour, launching it at the smaller man. Jun runs, retaliates, and it doesn’t take long before they’re chasing each other within the confines of their kitchen, laughing as everything is suddenly covered top to bottom in flour.
They only come to a stop when Akira appears from his bedroom, watching them with wide, confused gray eyes and a feather man toy in hand. He stares, they stare.
“You guys are weird,” the nine year old tells his parents, walking away with a tired sigh.
Jun and Tatsuya laugh a bit at the hypocrisy.
(They play fight a bit more, eventually Tatsuya falls however, slipping on some of the mixture. He sprains his arm, making it so he's very much not the one cleaning the kitchen. By the end of cleaning the kitchen, Jun is far too exhausted to bake and ends up just getting a cake from a bakery Katsuya frequents at; so no complaints there, fortunately. It ends up a nice birthday with a new funny story Katsuya loves to hear for years to come.)