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“Are you sure we should be doing this?”
Mash looked up from where he was filling the little choux pastries with whipped cream. “Yes. I want cream puffs,” he said as if it was obvious.
Finn huffed. “I mean, Mash, it's two in the morning,” he said. “We should be getting some sleep before that potions exam tomorrow.”
Mash blinked. “Ah, that is tomorrow, isn't it?”
“Yeah, it is!”
Mash hummed in thought, pondering for a moment, before shrugging. “Well, I might as well finish these first,” he said, going back to filling the cream puffs. “We can go to sleep then.”
“Okay,” Finn sighed.
He had no idea why he was here. He was just getting ready for bed when he saw Mash get up and head towards the door. He hadn't planned on following him, prepared to go to sleep, but knowing his roommate and best friend's gift of running into trouble, it took him three minutes of overthinking to get out of bed and chase after him.
Thinking about it now, Finn could've left Mash here on his own. It wasn't the first time he decided to make cream puffs in the middle of the night. From the sounds of it, the headmaster knew what he was doing and didn't care either, so it wasn't like he could get into too much trouble. Mash did always clean up after himself and did his best not to make too much noise. Finn could've easily taken one look at him putting on that frilly pink apron and returned to bed, having no real reason to stay, but for some reason, he hadn't.
Instead, Finn decided to stay. He walked in, hopped up on the counter, legs swinging back and forth, and stayed, watching as Mash made his cream puffs. He watched with silent fascination as Mash carried out the recipe he knew by muscle memory now, piping out each little one on the baking tray with delight. The whipped cream was made in a matter of seconds due to his muscles. They chatted idly as the choux pastries baked and cooled, speaking of nonsensical things as the night carried on. It was honestly pretty nice if you asked and he wouldn't have minded doing it again. But of course, it wasn't until now that Finn realized how late it was and how they both needed to go to sleep, if how loudly he yawned was anything to go by.
Oh, well, he thought. It was beyond the point of regret now.
“There. That's all of them.”
Finn looked over to see Mash smiling to himself as he looked at all of his tiny creations. Each one was perfectly filled and stacked beautifully on the plate. Mash claimed he couldn't use magic, but Finn would argue that what he was able to do with cream puffs was magic of its own kind, one that was uniquely his own and could never be taken away.
“They look really good,” he said, smiling brightly.
“Thank you,” said Mash. He turned and shot him a small grin. “And now to eat them.”
Finn was about to argue, but before he could a cream puff was unceremoniously shoved into his mouth, nearly choking him. He could already taste some of the whipped cream spilling out and it was even harder to resist now that he had a taste. Taking a bite, Finn let out a satisfied moan, savoring the perfect pastry.
“Fine, but just one,” he said after swallowing. “And then we go to sleep.”
Mash nodded and promptly dug in to his own cream puff. The two of them ate in companionable silence, a brief reprieve from everything. It didn't take long for Finn to finish and he was about to hop down from the counter when Mash stopped him.
“Ah, you have a little whipped cream on you.”
Finn raised an eyebrow. “Oh, where?”
Mash pointed to his right cheek and Finn pointed to where he assumed it was on his own. “Here?” he asked.
“No, more to the left,” said Mash, shaking his head.
“Here?”
Finn pointed to another spot, but Mash shook his head again.
“Too far.”
“Then, where?”
Mash walked closer to Finn, standing next to him. “Here, I'll get it,” he said.
Without a second thought, he reached up to wipe the whipped cream from Finn’s cheek with his finger. The action made Finn freeze as he felt how gentle Mash’s touch was upon his cheek. But what left him wide eyed was how Mash stuck his finger in his mouth, licking the whipped cream away.
“There, all gone now,” he said innocently, pulling his finger out his mouth with a pop. He quickly finished his own cream puff, leaving Finn befuddled and flustered.
“T-thanks!” Finn stuttered.
Mash nodded, but soon frowned. He leaned in closer to Finn, eyes narrowed as he studied him, and Finn could swear he could hear how loudly his heart was pounding in his chest.
“Hmmm maybe we should go to bed now,” Mash mused. His hand moved to touch Finn’s forehead. “You're kinda red and I don't want you getting sick. Pops always said it's important to take care of yourself.”
“O-oh, yeah, um, right! We should go to, uh, bed.”
Finn jumped down from the counter, pulling back from Mash as far as he could. He sprinted towards their dorm room without any further warning, leaving Mash alone in the kitchen to put the cream puffs away in the fridge. Mash stared curiously at where his best friend had once been, but shrugged to himself before cleaning up after himself. Finn did say he was worried about that potions exam, so it made sense that he'd want to get a good night's rest in preparation.
When Mash finished up in the kitchen and leisurely made his way back to his dorm, he spotted Finn turned away from the door and soundly asleep. He smiled to himself and crawled into his own bed. He really was blessed to have made such a great friend at Easton.
“Good night, Finn,” Mash whispered, even though he knew he wouldn't hear. “Thanks for keeping me company.”
Unbeknownst to Mash, Finn was still very much awake. He hadn't heard what Mash had said, though, because there was only one thing running through his mind.
What the heck was that?!
Needless to say, Finn got no rest that night.