#bakig

Finally, Eita laughed and hugged Taichi back, letting the strawberry blonde rest his chin on the top of Eita's head. "Happy birthday, bastard."

"What are you going in here?" Taichi asked once they broke apart. It was known fact that Eita was the best baker on the team. He loved making cookies and cakes, not necessarily to eat them but because baking calmed him down. Taichi never understood how someone could bake three batches of cookies during exam time or right before Interhigh but never eat them (luckily for Eita, their teammates had a pretty good idea what to do with the cookies) Taichi eyed a bowl of blueberries in the corner and popped one in his mouth.

Eita slapped his hand away when he reached for another one. "No eating the ingredients."

"Stress baking, again?" Taichi asked, trying to distract Eita as he reached towards the chocolate chips (to no avail, when Eita pulled his hand away and held it firmly and Taichi's side).

"Nah," Eita replied. "I'm making you a birthday cake."

"You don't have to," Taichi's face melted into a soft grin, something Eita loved to see. He always thought Taichi's grin, the one where he was a little bashful but also had a quite blush on his cheeks, was his best feature. Not many people knew Taichi outside of their volleyball team, not the real one. Taichi didn't like social interaction or confrontation, always on the shyer side. Eita was lucky to know the real, sassy, happy boy.

"Well," Eita countered. "I am."

Taichi was silent for a second. "Well if you are, what flavor is it?"

"Vanilla, with blueberries and chocolate chips inside. Buttercream frosting, too. Only the best for my 18-year-old boyfriend," Eita teased, poking his side.

Taichi kissed Eita, the kiss was soft-lipped, and Eita melted into it. He opened one eye, glancing at the counter and saw Taichi's fingers inside the blueberry bowl again. Eita pushed him away and snatched his hand out of the bowl.

"If you want the food so much, here," Eita took a handful of flour and tossed it at Taichi's shirt. The boy blinked for a few seconds, staring at the powdery white mess that his boyfriend made on his clothing.

"And you call me the bastard," he retorts, grabbing some sugar in his hands and threw it in Eita's hair. Eita laughed, eye wide.

"You are the bastard, birthday boy," he takes some baking powder and smushes it against Taichi's cheeks, before running from him and darting behind the baking rack. He sees Taichi grab some chocolate chips through the metal bars that he's hiding behind and come running closer. Eita ducks down but hears the sound of chocolate chips raining down on him and hitting him in the arm.

Leaping up, Eita runs back and grabs part of the butter, rubbing it over Taichi's neck, at the same time Taichi was rubbing more flour into Eita's face.

They were both fighting fits of giggles when Taichi grabs the salt and shakes it over Eita saying, "Look, it's Kenjirou!" Eita snorts in response, grabbing an egg and cracking it on Taichi. Taichi grabbed the second egg and broke it in his hand, letting the yolk and white spill out, right over where Eita's head was.

The entire dorm kitchen was a mess, flour and sugar settling over the room like a misty cloud. And the boys themselves were covered in, not only flour and sugar, but every ingredient Eita had so carefully laid out before. Their hair was askew, the egg and butter acting like a hair product (a terrible one, at that), sticking it out in weird places.

Eita gave Taichi and sideways glance before shoving the boy. "I hate you, now I have to get all new ingredients."

Taichi chuckled dryly, wrapping his arms around Eita. Eita sighed, putting his head against Taichi's chest so he could hear the steady heartbeat.

"Happy birthday," Eita murmured, getting on his tiptoes so he could see eye to eye with his boyfriend. His fingers were flour-covered, and sticky, but that didn't stop him from squeezing Taichi's cheeks, then laying his two palms against them (Taichi's cheeks were also dusted with flour, sugar, baking soda and egg), before kissing him. Taichi laughed in between Eita's lips before he kissed back.

There they stood, a mess of cake ingredients, kissing. Two boys in love, covered it, what should have been, cake batter.

The door swung open, and Satori and Kenjirou stormed in before stopping short to gawk at the mess all over the kitchen and their teammates. Pulling apart, sheepishly, Eita tugged at his dirty apron.

"We had too much fun...?" he offered and Taichi looked away from Satori's suggestive eyes, whistling and pretending not to know what the redhead was insinuating. Eita caught on and shook his eye, rolling his eyes. "Not like that, Satori."

"Whatever," Kenjirou said, dusting off some flour from the countertop. "Whenever you do finish Taichi's birthday cake, you better give me some."

"What a brat," Eita retorted and Semi stuck his tongue out in response. But, no matter how much the two bickered, they had resolved their differences awhile back. "Brats don't get any."

"Now, now, no--"

"And neither do you, Satori."

Eita had stuck candles inside the cake and everything. The two had cleaned off (and then the kitchen, because the staff yelled at them when they saw the kitchen) and Eita restarted his baking process and produced the best birthday cake Taichi had seen in awhile. Semi placed it in front of his boyfriend, kissing Taichi's cheek.

"Make a wish," Semi whispered as Taichi blew out the candles. I don't have to, Taichi thought, as stared at Eita, he is my wish.

"It's a good cake," Taichi said, in between chews.

"Maybe," Eita said, taking a bite of his own slice. "But I liked it better when it was just flour on your lips."

"What a flirt."

"I love you too."