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Enjin tried his best to not laugh. He had been trying for the last fifteen minutes, though. Living up to the whole gesture of zipping up his mouth, a promise to keep.
But this time, he had to cave in.
He could no longer hold it.
And of course, the bursting laughter was not appreciated.
"You said, you're not gonna laugh at me!"
The indignant protest, accompanied with sharp glare should be intimidating; but when Enjin looked his way, all he could see was a sight so endearingly cute and funny, he could only respond in breathless wheezes.
"Enjin! Stop laughing!"
Enjin lifted his hand, hoping he could say that he didn't mean to, but it was hard when he looked again and the same sight greeted him—again.
"I know, I should just give up," now the annoyance had somehow morphed into disappointment,
borderline self-deprecating.
Enjin took a deep breath to regulate the humor that might remain. Some traces of chuckle still followed, but it was manageable enough so that he could speak now.
"Oh, Zanka, you know what they say? Cooking is learnable, but baking is like trying to assemble a bomb that could go wrong at any second. Ever heard of it?"
Zanka looked away, pouting. This is the same man who would give hell to his patient who didn't listen to him; the same man who would fight with the caregiver for not taking note of his instructions; the same man who would chew a med student, when they refused to follow his lead and endangered the patient.
And yet, drenching in white substance, the Great Doctor Zanka Nijiku just looked like a grumpy cat.
"I'm doing everything you said, you saw it."
Well, about that, while it was true Enjin was there and supervised the doctor, he also had to admit that he was mildly, uh, distracted.
How could he not?
Zanka had asked him to teach him how to bake.
When Enjin asked why so suddenly, Zanka told him that he wanted to make his own baked-goods for the children in the pediatric wings.
Next week, they would hold a birthday celebration for one of the patients there and Zanka had promised him his own creation if the kid managed to get through the surgery before that.
The kid successfully underwent the treatment and he had paid a visit to Zanka's office to collect his promise.
That was how Enjin knocked on his door, with an armful of ingredients and had Zanka jotted down everything in his note about how to bake for dummies.
Maybe, Zanka should start from the easiest, like cookies; instead of jumping to cake and sorts.
But the doctor had insisted that there would be no birthday without cake, so yeah. Enjin didn't want to discourage him, especially when Zanka was genuinely happy to learn even if he was a bit impatient.
And apparently that kind of impatience only resulted in him getting the failed, liquidized meringue all over his head.
"Did you separate the eggs exactly like I told you?"
"Yes, Enjin, I even showed you and you told me I was doing a good job."
"Well, then—"
"I didn't use cold eggs either."
"Hmm, maybe—"
"I'm also using the glass bowl, just like you told me."
Enjin looked at him, but Zanka seemed like he would have answers to every doubt that Enjin had. It wasn't like he didn't believe the doctor.
Enjin was sure, no, Enjin knew Zanka was more than capable of following the instructions, he was a fast learner.
But the meringue couldn't break without reason.
The doctor hadn't even attempted to clean himself, he just stood there, looking both confused and offended at the mishap that occurred.
He's so cute, Enjin thought, but he didn't say it, in the fear of getting the frown turned back into a full glare. Zanka could be sickeningly sweet but also scary at times.
Oh, maybe that's it, the answer presented itself.
Enjin grabbed a handful of kitchen towels, before he walked to the doctor and cleaned up after him as best as he could.
Zanka didn't fight him, dutifully not moving. He even closed his eyes when Enjin processed to clean his face.
"When did you add the sugar?"
Zanka shot his eyes open at that, he looked like he tried to recall and was still unsure, as he answered, "You said, I should put them when the egg whites started to get stiff, and I kept whisking so it won't break down."
Enjin took some more kitchen towels.
"Did you add it gradually? Or just dump them all?"
"Of course, I did it gradually, you should see the texture, it got firmer before all hell broke loose."
Enjin didn't doubt it. Like he said, Zanka was an excellent student, and he listened to the instructions pretty well. It was hard to tell whether he missed something. So far, Zanka did great with the steps. And Enjin could actually prevent this, if he was paying attention.
But, the sight of Zanka who's usually in his scrub, suddenly wearing an apron, holding a whisk balloon and a bowl—Enjin's mind travelled, okay?
It wasn't even a dangerous place, unless a picture of white picket fence life could be considered dangerous—well then, Enjin definitely ventured there.
"There's several things that could cause this," Enjin said, trying to keep his focus on the problem in his hand. "You could add the sugar too soon, the foam hadn't peaked yet when the sugar came in, and such."
Enjin tipped his chin. "I told you, baking is like assembling a bomb and hoping you do everything right. Because even if you follow the instructions, you can still fail."
Zanka huffed. "I don't like being a failure."
Enjin pinched his cheek. "The only failure I see here is you're covered in white liquid and it's not even the white liquid that I want you to get covered with."
Zanka blinked, taking quite a moment to proceed with the words, before he hit Enjin by his side.
"You're disgusting," he grumbled, but Enjin was very pleased to see the blush gracing his face.
He redirected the doctor's face to him again, this time, leaning in to steal a kiss that tasted like white eggs, before he pulled away and spun Zanka around.
"Get showered," he told him. "I'll get the meringue done."
"But I haven't learned anything yet!"
Enjin grabbed another bowl before he schooled his face into something serious.
"What now, you need help with the shower too?" He asked, before he got kicked on the shin by the doctor.
Enjin yelped dramatically, that it only got the doctor crossing his arms, legs ready for another round.
"Stop being so violent, what kind of doctor you are!"
"The one whose boyfriend is deserving of the said violence."
At the mention of their relationship, Enjin grinned goofily. Zanka didn't let himself get affected this time.
He aimed for Enjin's knee, next.
But Enjin saw it coming and went to catch his leg.
"Careful, Doc, " Enjin slightly pulled Zanka by his calf, he had almost lost his balance. "That boyfriend of yours might be into this."
Zanka flustered, almost kicking him at the action. Enjin dodged the retaliation, trying his best to not laugh.
He ended up laughing anyway.