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Shinji sat in front of a massive wooden table which was topped with a comically large plate and a pair of matching utensils with music playing in the background at the perfect volume. He could only be at one place, his favourite bakery. The smell of freshly baked cookies hit his nose causing his stomach to rumble slightly. Cases of croissants, macaroons and other sweet treats and pastries he had never tried surrounded him entirely. Shinji didn’t know what to try first, all of his favourite things were all in one place. Baked goods, good music and a large appetite, it was all perfect. Well almost perfect, it was just missing one thing, the most important thing.The person he treasured the most in the world, he wished Kaworu was with him. They’d talk for hours about honestly anything or nothing at all. Kaworu was one of the few people Shinji was 100% comfortable with.When he’d go out with others he hated the gaps of awkward silence that would inevitably happen but when he was with Kaworu that silence was never anything awkward it was comforting.
However, he couldn’t have everything his way and at least he’d have more pastries for himself. Kaworu had this habit of asking to try a small bit of whatever pastry he was eating and most times he’d end up eating it all. Yes it did annoy him more than he’d like to admit but when he saw how happy Kaworu looked while savouring whatever pastry he was eating it was as if all his annoyance never existed in the first place. That sight alone was worth losing the many pastries he did over the years.
Shinji was eager to dig into all the goods this place had to offer, he looked around, eyeing all the treats and then he saw them, cake and a lot of it. Shinji loved cake.All types of cake, red velvet, chocolate, vanilla and pancakes, especially pancakes. Were pancakes even considered cake? Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t. Whatever the answer was couldn’t change how much he loved them. Soft and fluffy pancakes stacked on each other, topped with a generous helping of syrup absolute perfection,nothing in the world could top that feeling and taste.
Shinji stood up, grabbed the massive plate and piled as many pancakes as he could on it. He brought the plate back to his seat and grabbed a bottle full of syrup and poured it all on the stack of pancakes. Weird, he didn’t remember there being a bottle next to him but this wasn’t the time to start questioning things, he had much more important things to do now. He cut through each layer of all the pancakes he stacked on there and formed the perfect bite. It was the perfect syrup to pancake ratio and had just the right amount of pancakes on his fork. Shinji brought the pancake to his nose hoping to smell the delicious aroma they always realised, elevating the experience before eventually taking a bite but all he smelt was burning. The pancakes smelt burnt and it was strong, really strong, overpowering the scents of the pastries surrounding him.
Immediately an alarm rang throughout the whole bakery, it sounded really familiar, just like the fire alarm in his home. The cases of pastries began to melt until they formed a pile of unknown liquid. The bakery walls began to melt and disfigure with all the furniture joining them until they ceased to exist, until there was nothing left to call this building a bakery. However, the high pitched ring from the alarm never stopped, it only got worse causing Shinji to finally jolt awake.
He stared up at the ceiling, fighting the urge to stay in bed. His bed was unnaturally cold, Shinji usually woke up to Kaworu spooning him and he was practically a living heater so waking up cold was something that he hadn't experienced in a long time. Even with his bed several degrees colder than it should’ve been he didn’t want to get up.The ringing was coming from somewhere in the house but where? He didn’t leave anything on overnight, did he?
“Kaworu did we leave anything on?” Shinji mumbled.
No response.
“Kaworu?”
No response.
Shinji turned his body to the right, fully expecting to see his boyfriend fast asleep but instead he was met with nothing but wrinkled bedsheets and an empty pillow,no wonder the bed was so cold. He checked the time on his phone, 9am. Shinji groaned he had a free day and he wanted to sleep in some more but the alarm still hadn't stopped so with much unwillingness Shinji got out of bed. He’d hoped that it was the upstairs alarm that was ringing so he could climb straight back in bed but obviously things never like this never worked out in his favour.
Shinji went down one step at a time, the closer he got downstairs the stronger the smoke smell got. “What’s going on down there?,” he mumbled “And where did Kaworu go?”. When he finally reached the bottom of the stairs the smoke got stronger.He noticed that the kitchen door was closed, which was weird because he could’ve sworn he left the door open last night after he cooked dinner, he always leaves it open. The smoke had to have been coming from the kitchen because all the other doors were left open.
Shinji was prepared to see a lot of things once he opened that door, their kitchen set on fire or flooded, that would’ve made sense. What he didn’t expect to see was his boyfriend, trying to fan out the smoke out the window with a kitchen towel whilst simultaneously trying to flip a pancake with one hand, a skill Kaworu clearly didn’t possess. The whole situation was ridiculous so ridiculous that he couldn't help but laugh. However, it seemed that he had laughed a bit too loud which caused Kaworu to turn around in shock.
“Shinji? What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be asleep, go back to bed!”
“Well it’s kinda hard to sleep with all this noise”
“I’m so so sorry Shinji, you weren’t supposed to see any of this. I wanted to bring you breakfast in bed because you’ve been working so hard recently and I wanted to make pancakes because I know they’re your favourite. Everything was supposed to be perfect and I messed it all up.
“Don’t talk like that. It’s okay ” Shinji closed the distance between them both, wrapping his arms around his lover. “Thank you for thinking about me, really”
“So you aren’t upset?” Kaworu mumbled
“How could I ever be upset with you”
“Thank you Shinji you really are so kind”
Shinji felt his face heat up slightly. “I um wouldn’t call myself kind”
“But you are, it’s one of the many things I love about you. You’re always so kind, thoughtful, generous I could go on for days”
Now Shinji’s face turned a deep red. He never knew how to act when Kaworu complimented him like this. He buried his face into Kaworu’s neck hoping that his boyfriend wouldn’t notice how flustered he was. Unfortunately he had never been successful with this and today was no exception.
“I’ll spend every day reminding you, I love you Shinji”
“Kaworu…”
“Don’t tell me you don’t love me back, I think that would kill me” Kaworu pouted
Shinji moved his head from Kaworu’s neck and kissed his cheek while muttering something under his breath.
“What was that for?” Kaworu teased
“I- I love you too” Shinji mumbled
“Oh what was that, I couldn’t hear you properly
“ You know exactly what I said”
“ Please for me Shinji” Kaworu pleaded
Shinji could never say no to Kaworu, especially when he was acting like this. So he swallowed his embarrassment and repeated what he said before with more confidence. “I love you a lot too”
“You didn’t say that part last time,” Kaworu laughed. I wish I recorded that, you usually aren’t so expressive with your words”
“Stop teasing me” Shinji muttered
“Fine I will for now but I’m sorry again about breakfast”
“About that, why don’t we make some together? I’ll even show you how it’s done”
“I’d like that a lot, thank you”
“Let's start with the batter, it’s pretty easy to make”
Shinji grabbed the nearest measuring jug and added flour, milk, baking powder, an egg and a dash of vanilla extract. He expertly mixed all the contents forming a smooth liquid. Now came one of his favourite parts, tasting the batter. He swiped some of the batter on his finger and placed it in his mouth.
“This tastes really good, I think I nailed the amount of sweetness it’s perfect. Try some Kaworu”
Shinji placed the measuring jug in front of him so he could experience the absolute culinary masterpiece known as pancake batter. He waited eagerly for him to try some but Kaworu had other plans. Before Shinji could even register anything, Kaworu's lips were on his, kissing him tenderly like he always did.
“You were right Shinji, it’s sweet but not as sweet as you. Are you okay, your face just got really red?“
“S-stop acting all innocent”
“Whatever do you mean”
“You know exactly what I mean and that has to be the corniest thing you’ve said all week”
“But you lovee my corny side don’t you?”
“Im not going to inflate your ego any more”
“You’re so mean Shinji”
“Im going to pretend I didn’t hear that that and start on the pancakes. Watch closely this is the most important step”
Shinji coated the pan with a little butter and waited for the pan to heat up. Once it was hot enough he poured some of the batter and let it cook for two minutes on low heat. After he expertly flipped the pancake and allowed the other side to cook evenly. He repeated the process until he was out of batter and had 2 plates full of pancakes.
“And done, what toppings should we put on them? Too bad we ran out of syrup it would’ve gone really well with the pancakes”
“Well about that”. Kaworu opened the fridge and brought out a bottle of Shinji’s favourite syrup. “I know how much you like this brand so I made sure to get a bottle”
A small smile formed on Shinji’s face, there was something about having someone that knew you so well. He didn’t know how to explain it but what Kaworu did warmed his heart. “ Thank you a lot Kaworu”
“Let’s go eat! I'll grab the utensils. Now that I know how to make pancakes I can make them for you next time” Kaworu smiled.
“I think we should practice some more before then”
As much as Shinji loved Kaworu he did not want him burning down their kitchen anytime soon.
“Fine,” Kaworu pouted. “But someday I’ll bring you breakfast in bed and get it right!”
“I’m sure you will and I can’t wait for that day” Shinji smiled.
The two of them sat down together at the table talking about anything that popped up in their heads while devouring tasty pancakes. Sure he wasn’t at his favourite bakery surrounded by unlimited pancakes and his favourite music wasn’t playing in the background. Shinji didn’t care about any of that, he was with his favourite person in the world and that was miles better than what any bakery could offer to him.