Work Text:
Neuvillette released yet another sigh as the prosecutor rambled on and on about increasingly ridiculous accusations. It was almost comical how terrible his points were, anyone with a brain could see that he was desperate for some kind of charges to be pressed on the defendant. The more tales the prosecutor spun from nowhere, the longer the court case proceedings were.
This annoyed Neuvillette, who wished nothing more than to have this end, to no extent. His week had already been busy, countless people seeking him out to be their lawyer and endless piles of paperwork left unfinished on his desk.
“Your Honour, that is all I have to say”, the prosecutor ended his story, shooting the defendant an accusatory glare.
“And the defendant?” The judge asked, turning towards Neuvillette and his client.
“Your Honour, if I may..”, Neuvillette began, hoping to end this case as fast as possible.
...
Meanwhile, Wriothesley sat in his locker room, brows furrowed in concentration as he wrapped his hand in black bandages. His boxing gloves were left on the bench next to him, along with an almost empty bottle of water. Wriothesley had a rough month, every one of his days spent either beating the life out of sandbags hung in the gym or opponents in the boxing ring to climb the ranks of a boxing championship he had signed up for.
Today was the finale, one more match before someone was declared champion and Wriothesley was determined to win. After all, he hadn't put in that much effort to settle for anything short of first.
...
With a quick flick of his pen, Neuvillette finished signing the last paper of the day. Placing it on the neat stack in the corner of his desk, Neuvillette set his pen down and stretched, taking a quick glance at the clock - 10p.m. Court cases had taken up most of his afternoon, the papers having to be pushed back until now. It was pretty late, Wriothesley would probably chide him about neglecting his sleep again. Speaking of his Wriothesley, Neuvillette barely saw him for the past month, his lover always gone before he woke up and only arriving at their apartment late at night.
Neuvillette tried to stay up and wait for Wriothesley to return home before, but that only ended up with him falling asleep on the couch before Wriothesley arrived, his exhaustion too heavy to contain. He would always wake alone on the bed after, Wriothesley having carried him there when he returned. It was championship season, Neuvillette knew Wriothesley would be busy for a month before being free for a long time. Thinking about the amount of time Wriothesley would have to spend with him brought about a small upturn of his lips.
A knock on the door brought Neuvillette out of his train of thoughts before he could dream of what they would do together. "Come in", Neuvillette said, turning towards the door. The door opened and Neuvillette smiled, standing up as Wriothesley entered.
"Hey, I'm here to fetch an overworking idiot", Wriothesley announced playfully, winking at Neuvillette as he grinned.
"I'd argue that you've been working more than me", Neuvillette countered, walking towards Wriothesley.
"Does being a professional boxer really count as work?" Wriothesley asked, enveloping Neuvillette in an embrace and peppering soft kisses on his face.
"Yes", Neuvillette answered, leaning further into his lover's embrace.
Wriothesley chuckled softly, wrapping a strand of Neuvillette's hair around his finger, twirling it.
They fell into comfortable silence, relishing in the warmth of each other and the fact that they could finally spend time together. The past week has been tiring for both of them - matches in the ring one after another for Wriothesley and court case after court case for Neuvillette.
"Y'know Neuvillette, I missed you a lot", Wriothesley's tone was soft, breaking the silence before continuing, "Let's go home, love"
"I would want nothing more", Neuvillette replied, then quieter, murmured, "I love you too"
...
Ethereal moonlight shone down on the couple, stars twinkling in the dark night sky. Fingers intertwined, the two walked along the pavement, past rows of shops as they headed home.
Passing by a close flower shop, Wriothesley glanced at the rows of neatly arranged bouquets in the display cases, the centerpiece of each one being a toy bear holding a crimson heart that had silver 'Happy Valentine's' written in cursive on it.
"Ah, valentines day. I seem to have forgotten about it. I extend my sincerest apologies", Neuvillette noted, following Wriothesley's line of sight.
"I kinda forgot about it too, you have nothing to apologise for", Wriothesley shrugged, "I'll have to whip up something from thin air to give you tomorrow."
A smile tugged at the corner of Neuvillette's lips, "Your presence is enough, I need no gifts to be happy"
"Well then, it's great we have the whole day to ourselves. We can do anything your heart desires", Wriothesley grinned as he turned towards Neuvillette.
"My heart desires you"
"Then you shall have me"
Comfortable silence fell on the two as they walked, almost every shop on the way having already closed.
"You know, it's a shame the cafe is probably closed, there's this lava cookie that's all over the internet", Wriothesley shook his head slowly, breaking the silence, "I really wanted to try it."
"We can visit the cafe tomorrow", Neuvillette offered, "I wouldn't mind spending the day sampling pastries with you"
Wriothesley hummed thoughtfully before his eyes sparkled and he grinned.
Neuvillette braced himself.
"Nah, it's fine. I have a better idea."
...
Wriothesley's eyelids fluttered open, a content smile surfacing as he took in the sight of a sleeping Neuvillette in front of him. It felt like years since Wriothesley was able to wake beside his love, moments like this cherished deeply by him.
Lilac eyes slowly opened, meeting Wriothesley's gaze.
"Morning, love", Wriothesley murmured, gently brushing Neuvillette's hair from his face with his thumb, his voice husky with sleep.
"I can never get used to you calling me that", Neuvillette replied softly, a faint pink dusting his cheeks.
Wriothesley chuckled, "I'll go check what we have in the fridge and make some breakfast, meanwhile you get some more shut-eye."
"Happy Valentines day Wriothesley", Neuvillette replied sleepily, eyelids droopy.
"Happy Valentines day to you too", Wriothesley smiled, pushing the covers off himself and getting off the bed. Planting a quick kiss on Neuvillette's forehead, Wriothesley tossed on a shirt before exiting the room and heading towards the kitchen.
...
The sizzling of bacon brought about a tantalising aroma to the kitchen, Wriothesley humming softly as he scrambled the eggs in another pan. Hearing footsteps along the marbled floor, Wriothesley turned around to see a half-awake Neuvillette dragging his feet to the dining table, hands furiously trying to rub the sleep from his eyes.
"Hey sleeping beauty", Wriothesley chimed, promptly ignoring the half-hearted glare Neuvillette sent his way right after.
"This is my best dish yet", Wriothesley proudly announched, setting two plates filled with scrambled eggs and bacon onto the table before taking a seat opposite Neuvillette.
"Its the only dish you're physically capable of making", Neuvillette remarked.
"I'm not that bad", Wriothesley huffed, folding his arms.
Neuvillette sent him a questioning look and with a straight face, simply stated, "If my memory serves me well, it took you two months to learn how to scramble eggs properly."
"Eat", was the grumbled response to Neuvillette's comment.
"Just checking, we're baking cookies today right?" Neuvillette asked, picking up his cutlery and starting to slice his bacon.
Wriothesley, halfway through wolfing down his food, answered, "Yup, we can start after we finish breakfast. Unless you want to do something else?"
"Baking cookies together sounds wonderful, I don't mind anything as long as I get to spend the day with you", Neuvillette smiled, propping his head on his hand and taking a bite of the eggs.
"And you call me sappy", Wriothesley grinned, setting his fork down on his now empty plate.
"I did no such thing."
...
After placing the dishes in the sink - effectively postponing their fight about who would do the dishes, Wriothesley took (almost) everything they needed to make the cookies out of the fridge and set them on the counter, "We don't have chocolate chips, just chopped up chocolate will have to do then."
"So, I may or may not have forgotten to take the butter out earlier", Wriothesley laughed awkwardly, dropping the rock-solid block of butter onto the counter for further emphasis.
Neuvillette sighed, moving to pick up the bowl and placing it on the measuring scale, "Honestly, I don't know what I expected. Let's just measure the other ingredients first."
Picking up the bag of brown sugar, Neuvillette measured out 75g before setting the bowl aside. Wriothesley poured the granulated sugar into another bowl, staring intently at it.
"That looks like 25g, right Neuvillette?" Wriothesley pushed the bowl towards Neuvillette.
"Wriothesley, the scale exists for a reason."
"Oh-"
...
"Neuvillette! Do I just mix the sugar in with the butter?" Wriothesley asked, plugging in the mixer.
Neuvillette, now focused on weighing out the flour, simply nodded before Wriothesley poured the two bowls of sugar into the mixer along with the block of butter and started the mixer
"Neuvillette, watch this", Wriothesley grinned as he picked up an egg. Neuvillette looked up as Wriothesley gently tapped the egg against the counter and cracked it with one hand into the mixer. Bits of egg shell fell into the mixer, soon vanishing in the mixture of egg, butter and sugar as the blades of the mixer continued to turn, rendering them unable to be picked out.
Met with an unamused look from Neuvillette, Wriothesley could only shrug and give a lopsided smile.
"Oops, a bit of eggshell won't hurt anyone right?"
...
"Here, slowly pour this into the mixture", Neuvillette instructed, handing Wriothesley the bowl of flour mixed with a little bit of baking powder and salt.
Wriothesley hummed, placing down the vanilla extract he was adding before taking the bowl from Neuvillette's hand.
"Wriothesley, I said slowly", Neuvillette sighed as Wriothesley dumped the contents of the whole bowl into the mixer, causing a cloud of flour to rise and fall all over the counter.
Wriothesley smiled sheepishly, placing the empty bowl down and moving to get a towel, "What can I say? I have selective hearing."
"You're hopeless", Neuvillette shook his head, "I'll do the rest so the cookies don't turn out unsalvageable."
"I'm your hopeless cause", Wriothesley grinned, cupping Neuvillette's cheek to give him a quick kiss on the lips before turning to busy himself with cleaning the flour off the counter.
A blush settled on Neuvillette's face as Wriothesley continued to wipe the now spotless counter.
"Wriothesley!"
...
Wriothesley snaked his arms around Neuvillette's waist, resting his head on Neuvillette's shoulder as he watched his beloved finish up the cookie dough. Raising an arm to wrap a strand of Neuvillette's long hair around his finger, Wriothesley smiled contently, peppering Neuvillette's neck with soft kisses.
"Wriothesley, you're distracting me", Neuvillette sighed, his words carrying no bite as he leaned into the touch.
"Glad to know that my awe-inspiring looks and amazing commentary has finally charmed you away from the cookies", Wriothesley winked, swiping away the bowl of cookie dough from Neuvillette, "I'll take care of the rest."
Neuvillette gave a weak glare, moving to take back the bowl, "I take back what I said before, you're not hopeless, you're an absolute menace to the baking society."
"Neuvillette, please, it won't be us baking the cookies if you do everything", Wriothesley whined, clutching the bowl closer to his chest.
Sensing that there was no winning this argument, Neuvillette relented, "As long as you promise not to burn the house down."
Wriothesley gave a mock salute and a lopsided smile.
"Yes, sir."
...
"Neuvillette! Look, I didn't burn the oven down this time", Wriothesley held out a tray of cookies that seemed to Neuvillette like they were on the very edge of being classified as burnt. The man himself wore a proud grin on his face, placing the tray onto the counter and eagerly pushing it towards Neuvillette.
Not wanting to dampen Wriothesley's high spirits, Neuvillette took one of the cookies, dusting off as many black crumbs as he could before taking a bite.
"It's.. nice, the best you've ever made. You're improving, love", Neuvillette gave a polite smile, finishing the rest of the cookie.
Wriothesley raised his eyebrow, picking up one for himself and wolfing it down in one bite. The bitterness from the burnt edges was prominent, the amount of sugar and chocolate unable to completely mask it.
"Aw, I thought I finally did it too", Wriothesley sighed, moving towards the oven, "You know, Neuvillette, you don't have to pretend to like them."
"You looked so happy and I didn't want to crush your hopes", Neuvillette explained, picking up a knife and shaving the burnt bits off.
Neuvillette heard the clang of an oven door closing before Wriothesley said softly, "Thanks for choosing to stay in my life, for dedicating the little free time you have to me, for accepting me for me. I love you Neuvillette, Valentine's wouldn't be the same without you here."
When he placed the knife down and turned around, Wriothesley held out a cookie in the shape of a heart to him, icy eyes glimmering with adoration and a genuine smile playing on his lips.
"Wriothesley..", Neuvillette breathed, accepting the cookie with both his hands.
Wriothesley scratched his neck, shrugging, "It's not perfect, but at least it's not burnt. I know I'm not the best baker, but I put that particular cookie on a tray under the others. Maybe that's why."
"I love you too, Wriothesley. This is perfect, thank you", Neuvillette smiled, a rare smile reserved for special occasions, for special people, for Wriothesley.
Wriothesley wrapped his arms around Neuvillette, tilting his head.
Neuvillette's eyelids fluttered shut as he leaned forward.
Wriothesley followed.
Their lips met.