Empire One Shots [Book One]

Burnt Cookies || Jamal & Michael

I said I was gonna write about the boys but I've really been missing Michael so..

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It was a rainy evening in June, the smell of chocolate chip cookies spiraled through the air and the sound of a little girl's laughter boomed through the house. It was one of the rare days where Olivia Lyon let her daughter Lola spend the night with Jamal Lyon. It had been so long since Jamal had seen Lola, he nearly hit the roof when she heard he was coming over again. He loved the little girl like she was his own child, unfortunately she was not.

"Ten more minutes, I promise." Jamal Lyon smiled while looking down at the little girl staring up at him with a pout on her small face. "Aw Lola," he carefully scooped her up into his arms, "don't give me that look." The sad expression the girl wore had the power to end wars or at least had the power to trick Jamal into feeding her nothing but sweets.

Lola let out a small sigh, her pout not vanishing, "Why do cookies take so long to bake?" 

"I don't know cuteness."

"Can we play a game while we wait for them to finish?"

"Of course." Jamal placed her back on the floor gently. "What do you wanna play?"

"Hmmm," she hummed, "hide and seek!" Jamal nodded his head in agreement.

"Should I try to find you?"

Lola nodded her head eagerly and began to run off somewhere in Jamal's home looking for a spot to hide. "Count to ten!" She shouted out as she disappeared.

Jamal followed Lola's instructions, he started to count to ten while covering his eyes. When he got to the number five, there was a knock at the door. He trudged confusedly to the door, he wasn't expecting any guest. He decided to open the door anyway and was immediately greeted by his soaking wet ex boyfriend, Michael Sanchez.

"Michael.." Jamal froze in the doorway. The sight of him caused his stomach to do somersaults. He just couldn't determine whether that was a good or bad thing.

"You gonna let me in or what?" Michael chuckled awkwardly.

"Oh right." Jamal pulled Michael inside hurriedly.

There was a lot he wanted to say to him. A lot he wanted to ask, too. The most important question being; why was he here right now? But Jamal knew better, he had to get Michael in dry clothes first before he did all of that.

Michael's face lit up when he took in the scent of the chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven. They were his favorite and he remembered spending his off days baking them with Jamal. He definitely missed those moments of bonding with Jamal.

"C'mon, some of your clothes are still here." Jamal said while leading Michael to his bedroom. As if Michael didn't already know the place like the back of his hand. Most of his things were still there in all the same places.

Michael searched through a pile of his clothes and grabbed a fresh outfit. He pulled off his shoes and socks, then stripped out of his shirt. He went to unbuckle his pants but stopped after noticing Jamal was still in the room and staring at him with indecisive eyes.

"Um, Jamal could you—"

"I miss you, Michael."

Michael's eyes immediately filled up with tears, "I missed you too, Jamal."

Jamal rushed to Michael's side and pulled him into a tight hug. He didn't want to let go, Michael's touch was one of his favorite things, but he knew he had to, sadly. When he did, Michael caressed his cheeks, simply staring at him for a moment, before pulling him into a deep kiss.

For a while they simply stood in the middle of Jamal's bedroom, sharing hungry heated kisses, letting their hands roam every itch of each other's bodies and wrestling with one another's tongues. That would of continued, hell, it probably would have gone farther than that if it wasn't for the smell of something burning entering the room.

"What's that smell?" Michael asked after breaking the kiss with furrowed eyebrows. He watched as Jamal finally put the connections together and realized the cookies he was baking were beginning to burn.

"Oh no! Oh no!" Jamal bolted from the room and headed straight for the kitchen where an angry Lola stood near the oven. Crap, Jamal forgot all about Lola too. He was officially going down as one of the worst babysitters because of this incident.

He carefully opened the oven up, nearly forgetting his oven mits. He pulled out the tray of burnt cookies, almost as dark as the night and smelled almost as horrible as wet dog. He frowned, sliding the cookies into the trash can and turning to the small girl before him. Her pout was no longer adorable, it reeked of anger and Jamal knew she wasn't taking any excuse he was about to throw at her.

"Lola, I'm so sor—"

"Hi Lola!" Michael walked into the kitchen with a new dry outfit and a cheery attitude, "How about I bake you a whole new batch of cookies? I'll make you a lot more than Jamal did and I promise I won't burn them."

"You promise?" Lola's attitude melted away.

"I promise." Michael assured her.

"Okay," She turned to Jamal, "can I watch tv until the cookies finish?"

"Sure." Jamal said.

With that, Lola left the room to go sit down in the living room and watch an episode of Shimmer and Shine. All of her attention went to the kids television show, she paid no mind to the two men in the kitchen. As far as she was concerned, only the two girl genies on the tv screen mattered.

"What should we do while the cookies bake?" Jamal asked as he watched Michael add the cookie ingredients into a mixing bowl. For some reason, watching Michael put all his concentration on baking was therapeutic to Jamal. He needed him back in the house.

"I'm not sure," Michael raised an eyebrow, adding chocolate chips into the mix, "what do you wanna do?"

"I got a few ideas." Jamal winked at Michael, a smirk forming on his lips. Michael knew exactly where he was going with this and couldn't wait to get the cookies into the oven.