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“Alright, I think it’s time for you to get the hell out of my kitchen,” Duke said, smacking Steph with a spatula. She yelped and ducked away.
“It’s Alfred’s kitchen, really,” she grumbled.
Duke rolled his eyes. “Alfred’s not here right now, and as the only one of us he trusts near the stove, I am the senior chef. Ergo, my kitchen.”
“Whatever.” Steph sat down on one of the stools at the kitchen island. Duke started mixing the cookie dough again, this time with no Stephanie attempting to stick her fingers in it.
Once the dough was done, he stuck it in the fridge to chill, and went to check on his cooling cake. He deemed it satisfactory, and moved it to the island.
“Grab the frosting for me, Steph,” he told her, heading for the cake decorating cabinet. He searched through the piping tips, selecting a few.
“Thought you wanted me out of your kitchen,” Steph teased, standing up and strolling to the fridge. She grabbed the frosting they had made earlier, bringing it to the island.
Duke got to work decorating the cake. He frosted the whole thing in chocolate, piping fancy designs on the sides with red frosting. He used a thinner piping tip for the lettering on the top. When he was in the middle of the border, Damian wandered in through the doorway.
“Brown? Thomas? What are you two doing up?” he asked. “It’s nearly five in the morning.”
“We’re baking,” Steph answered, perched back on her stool.
“I’m baking,” Duke corrected. “Steph is watching me bake.”
“I’m helping!” she protested.
“You are most definitely not.”
She stuck her tongue out at him.
Damian crept closer, looking over the cake. “Happy deathday Jason,” he read aloud, then grinned. “Does Todd know you’re doing this?”
“Nope!” Steph said cheerfully. “We wanted it to be a surprise.”
“Jason hates when everyone gets all sad and shit,” Duke told them, “so we’re going to have fun this year. We’re going to have cake and cookies and a movie marathon. It’s gonna be great.”
Damian nodded in understanding. “The cake looks acceptable.”
Duke beamed at him. From Damian, that was a pretty high compliment; especially considering he was the best cake decorator in the family. “I was just using what you taught me, Dames.”
His ears turned pink. “Well, of course.”
Duke laughed and reached over to ruffle his hair. Damian ducked out of the way and sat next to Steph.
Duke finished off his piping. Steph oohed and aahed, and Damian nodded approvingly. He carefully stuck it in the freezer.
He pulled the cookie dough out of the fridge, setting it on the counter. Damian hopped up to get the flour, while Duke got out the baking sheets and the rolling pin from where he had already set them aside, with the cookie cutters he had chosen.
Damian grinned when he saw them. Steph giggled.
An hour and a half later, there were several trays of coffin-shaped cookies cooling on the racks, and Duke and Damian were making bowls of icing. Steph was trying to balance a spoon on her nose.
Steph had somehow gotten her hands on red edible glitter, which she used liberally. There was icing and sprinkles and glitter everywhere, and they were all giggling so hard they didn’t even hear the footsteps in the hallway.
“Baking without me? I’m hurt.”
They all snapped their heads up to see Jason striding towards them, pushing his bangs out of his face.
He leaned over to look at what they were doing. He snorted. “Coffins, huh?”
Steph unfroze first. “It was meant to a surprise,” she huffed.
He laughed. “Sorry I spoiled it,” he said with a wink. They all groaned.
“Keep that up, and you’re not getting any cake,” Duke threatened.
“Cake?” Jason asked. Duke gestured towards the freezer.
Jason opened the freezer and carefully took out the cake. He turned it around, while Duke watched on nervously. “Do you like it?” he asked as Jason set it gently back in the freezer.
“I love it, Narrows,” he said, his voice thick with emotion as he ruffled Duke’s hair.
Eventually, the four of them got all the cookies done and the kitchen cleaned. They collapsed in the living room, warm and safe and happy.
It was a pretty great start to April 27th.