"Hey! Ross! Rossy! Mr. Ross! ROSS FEDERMAN!!" Someone shouted as Ross gained consciousness. He just had woken up from his sleep. He slowly opened his eyes to see Zubin towering over him.
"Finally, you're up. Sit up. It's time to open your eyes and face the world." Zubin said as he walked back to his bed.
"And what exact time is that? I don't remember us having an exact time for waking up in unison." Ross said.
"It's 8 Am," Rob said as he suddenly came out of the bathroom. "Time for you to get up!"
Ross groaned as he got out of bed. He pushed Rob aside as he went into the bathroom to get himself presentable for his friends. ...and secretly himself.
"Uh... He's rude. Anyways, where is Andrew?" Rob asked as he sat on his bed.
"I don't know. Earlier this morning before all of you guys were up I woke up to him at the door. I asked him where he was going but he like... Screeched?" Zubin said. "Yeah, so he then ran out the door. Haven't seen him ever since."
"I wonder if he's okay."
"Probably not. You know him, always being ill at the weirdest times. Anyway, I've got to go feed my child."
Zubin got up from his bed and went to Winter's cage which was on a dresser on the side of the room. Rob stared at him, watching Zubin feed it.
"You act like it's an actual human," Rob said.
Zubin turned around from the cage, giving a weird look back to Rob. "So? It's a pet. I take care of it as if it were my actual child."
Ross then came out of the bathroom, looking at the two men who were glaring at each other. He managed to get to his bed without interrupting their stare-off slowly. For two minutes the two stared at each other before one of them blinked and looked away.
"Ha! I win!" Rob exclaimed as he clapped his hands together and threw them up in the air for victory.
"Uh... You didn't really win. I'm sure if you had waited a few more seconds you would have blinked too." Ross said.
"Shut up, Ross!" Zubin and Rob both yelled in unison.
Ross threw his hands up in the air and opened his eyes dramatically. He now decided that he was going to look for Andrew since he overheard the two's conversation about him being gone. He went out of the hotel room to walk to the elevator, to go downstairs to the lobby.
Ross walked outside and looked around. He looked around for the car, which he found. A sad Andrew was sitting in it. Ross knocked on the window for Andrew to let him in and Andrew unlocked the door.
"Hey," Ross said as he closed the door shut as he got into the car. "You ok?"
Andrew grabbed a pen and a pad of paper, and wrote down "I've lost my voice."
"Oh! How? Like do you have any idea?"
"no. all I know is that my throat and vocal cords hurt whenever I try to talk."
"Do you want me to take you to a doctor or..."
"yea" The note read out. Ross nodded and he and Andrew switched seats. Ross sat in the driver's seat while Andrew sat in the passenger's. He gave Ross the keys which Ross put in the ignition and started driving to their doctor. (they all share just like one doctor don't question it)
~
"Welp," Ross sighed as he and Andrew walked out of the hospital. "You can't talk for 2 weeks. At least you have your pen and notepad!"
Andrew sighed and slightly rolled his eyes as he wrote on the notepad. The note that he wrote read "yeah, but what about singing? like I wanna do that. it's my only source of relaxation. I want to relax since we can't live in our own home because of some maniac."
Ross grimaced as he read out the note. He began walking with Andrew having a hand over his shoulder. "Well, you could find another source of relaxation! Like whenever I'm stressed, I just bake."
Andrew started writing on his notepad again. "bake?" it wrote.
"Mhm. You can actually learn some skills over time from it. Learn how to bake & stuff. Also, in the end, you can have delicious food."
Andrew tried to go "hm" but all that came out was a tiny screech. Ross patted Andrew's back as they walked back to the car.
(back at the hotel)
"Where did Andrew and Ross go?" Joe said as he stood looking at himself in the bathroom mirror.
"I don't know!" Zubin yelled from behind. "All I know that is Andrew keeps screeching every time I try to talk to him. It's weird."
Joe looked at Zubin in the reflection with a glare. "He could be sick, you know."
"Maybe. Maybe not. He could just be acting we-"
"HEYYY!" Ross exclaimed as he and Andrew stepped into the hotel room. "Guess who lost their voice?"
Zubin sighed. "Andrew did?"
"YUP," Ross replied.
Zubin and Joe walked out of the bathroom to see Ross and Andrew carrying plastic containers of supposed food. He carried 4 of them and it looked like it was an absolute handful for him.
"What's with the food?" Rob asked.
"After going to the doctor to get help for Andrew, we went to a place for breakfast. That's where we got these." Ross said as he waved his plastic container in the air.
"Why are you very hyper?" Joe asked.
Andrew struggled to get his notepad out of his pocket, but eventually, he got it out and wrote in it. "he's had 8 coffees, and wants more. DO NOT give him any caffeine." the note read out.
Joe nodded and grabbed Ross by the shoulders. Ross dropped his container as he got pushed onto the bed and then tucked in tightly.
"Uh, what ya doin' there Joe?" Rob asked, looking over at Ross and Joe.
"Andrew said to not give him any caffeine. There is a TON around us in this hotel room. It's better if he was restrained or was out of this room. He cannot go anywhere besides here, so he is restrained." Joe replied.
"I- Andrew! I thought you supported my growing caffeine addiction!" Ross yelled from the bed.
"Your what now?"
"ever since the whole hawaii thing he has been secretly drinking a lot of coffee almost every day" Andrew's note wrote.
"Oh," Rob replied. "So basically this is because of stress?"
Andrew nodded. "he has tried to stop, but he can't so he just keeps doing it."
"Way to be a snitch, Andrew." Ross said. At this point, Andrew had enough so he went over to the bed and slapped Ross in the face. Ross gasped as he placed a hand on his cheek to soothe the sting he got from the slap. Andrew got his notepad and pen.
"ok, now calm down. maybe YOU should try baking. with ME. we could go do it at bora's house or something." Andrew's note said.
"Yeah Ross," Joe chimed in. "Go calm down and bake. Seems a bit odd to me but-"
"We get it, Joe. You're trying to be helpful." Zubin said as he rolled his eyes at Joe.
Joe gave a mix of a disgusted and confused look to Zubin. He actually was trying to help but what he was gonna say was that however people calm down. Joe sighed.
"They don't understand me..." Joe muttered to himself as he ran to his bed and got under the blankets. He was now starting to develop an emo phase. Well, his second. He has had one before but that was before the whole Tally Hall thing.
~
Ross sighed as he looked outside the car window. His chin rested in his palm which was stood up on the car door. He and Andrew were being driven to Bora's house to have a "Relaxation cooking time" as Rob called it. Rob drove them with a happy-go-lucky smile on his face. Andrew was just silent (literally) and was listening to music off of his iPod the whole time.
"You know, Andrew, I'm glad you agreed to this. Baking is and always been an escape for me when times get rough. I'm glad it's becoming something like that to you." Ross said as he finally looked away from the window and at Andrew.
Andrew sighed as he had to turn off his iPod and get out the notepad & pen again. "dude, I'm glad too but seriously after this whole caffeine thing I think you need it more than I do. I'm just mute for three weeks. I'm not really big-time stressed about the whole thing."
As Ross grabbed the notepad and read it, he got an angry look on his face. He took away Andrew's pen and notepad because he felt embarrassed about the whole caffeine thing. Not that it was bad, anyone could do something like that when you and your friends are getting stalked and have been. AND, been having weird dreams. Just to add to all of that.
"Hey!" Rob yelled. "Give him back his notepad." Rob adjusted his mirror to look at Ross as if a mother would do to watch her child.
It was funny, how Rob had just had the whole mother role and was driving his friends to another friend's house. It was like he was a mother driving her kids to their friend's house. Ross had then given the notepad back to Andrew and was pouting the whole ride. Rob then felt truly like a mother to 4 grown men. Who were his friends.
"Man, I could really go for a cake right now. Good thing I'll probably bake one soon." Andrew thought to himself. He imagined himself actually saying that, but just in his mind. He was sad he couldn't say it out loud since the whole voice thing.
"Ok, we're here!" Rob exclaimed as the car pulled up to Bora's house.
Bora's house was very big. Well, just from the outside. They rarely ever went inside and when they did it was dark so they couldn't see the full thing. As Andrew and Ross got out of the car, they both looked at the house. It wasn't 4 stories or anything but definitely two. It looked like a tiny mansion.
"Have a nice time!! Bye!" The car soon quickly sped off into a random street. Andrew and Ross both looked at each other with a confused look on their faces, but they shrugged and brushed It off.
Ross was the first one to ring the doorbell, of course. Andrew couldn't speak so how was he supposed to talk to him? Anyway, the door was soon answered by Bora in a suit. Everyone was confused. From Bora seeing the boys show up at his front door at 10 am, to Andrew and Ross being confused as to seeing Bora in a suit.
"Uh... what's up? Wait, actually whatever you're about to say make it quick because I've got to go somewhere." Bora said.
"Where is it you have to go...?" Ross questioned.
"Not really important," Bora replied.
"Kay', then. So Andrew lost his voice, and I have a caffeine addiction. So Rob sent us here to relieve stress by baking because we're not at our house at the moment because...well, you know. Basically, can we borrow and use your kitchen?"
"Oh! yeah, of course. You can use it for the whole day. Actually come in because if you're gonna use the kitchen, then you need to learn some rules."
"Ok."
Bora led the two into his house, then shut the door. He gave them a really quick tour and brought them to the kitchen. The kitchen looked AMAZING. There were real marble countertops, a really fancy fridge where it made ice, a beautiful island table with stools surrounding it, and finally, a dishwasher.
"Ok, so, Rule number one! Don't use the garbage disposal, it's broken and I've got to fix it or get someone to fix it. Rule number two, if you accidentally get the room all smokey then open that window, please. I don't need my fire alarms going off while I'm not here." Bora said as he pointed to a window that was over by some counters.
"Rule number three, I have a pantry. It's the door by the fridge and has anything and everything you need to bake. Ok, that's it! I'll be back tomorrow. Probably early morning. And oh! Clean up after yourselves. Now I've got to go. Bye!"
"Bye!" Ross said while he and Andrew waved to Bora as he walked out the front door. "Hm. I wonder where he's going with a suit on."
Andrew got out his notepad once again. "probably a date or something."
"Makes sense."
"anyway, do you know where the bathroom is? my mind wasn't focused on the tour and more on what I'm gonna bake."
"Yeah! Just that door from the left when you walk out of the kitchen."
As Andrew walked out of the kitchen, Ross grinned as he thought about what he could bake. Cookies? Banana Bread (if Bora had old bananas)? A toaster strudel just by putting it in a toaster? The options were endless. It was as if he had a run of creativity. Just with baking. He could feel a grin start to form on his face. And his eyes had a sort of a twinkle of excitement. Somehow, he could feel that too.
Ross then lost that all when he heard Andrew's footsteps walking back to the kitchen. He knew he was going to bake whatever Andrew wanted to bake. Well, he knew that before he got all happy about it. He was the one who even brought up the idea. He only had himself to blame.
Andrew stopped in front of Ross as he began writing on his notepad. It was getting annoying to Ross, but he didn't think it was gonna turn into a problem.
"ok, so I have a few ideas on what to bake. we can choose from them. 1, peanut butter cookies. 2, brownies in random shapes, and 3. pink marble sandwich cake."
"Maybe brownies in random shapes! That sounds fun. Ish." Ross replied as he pointed to the writing on the notepad.
Andrew nodded but soon after flipped to a new page. "why did you point? I'm not deaf I just lost my voice."
"Because I wanted to. ANYWAY, do you know how to even make brownies?" Ross questioned.
Andrew nodded again. This time instead of writing anything, he walked past Ross and to the pantry. He came out with a box of brownie mix, vegetable oil, wax paper for the pan, and various cookie cutters. He was holding all of this in his arms. Also, add the pen and notepad. He was carrying a lot so Ross decided to take some things out of his arms and set them down on the island.
"Ah! We don't need to go through the messy process of making actual brownies. We just have a box. Also, I see you found cookie cutters so we don't have to make them with our hands into awkward shapes." Ross laughed. Andrew tried to laugh as well but it came out as a cough.
"Oh. Sorry. Forgot you lost your voice."
Andrew looked at Ross with a displeased face. "How? Uh, ok then." Andrew thought.
"I can tell that you think I'm stupid."
"no shit, sherlock. how could you forget it's the whole reason why we're here."
"F-shut up. Let's just get to baking, Andrew..."
~
Zubin was petting his bunny, trying to distract himself from the annoying emo music blaring out of Joe's headphones. He thought it was basically pointless to wear headphones if you listen to it loud enough to where people can still hear it anyways. When he heard the door open, the bored glance that he had on his bunny turned to the door. He saw Rob.
"Oh, it's just you," Zubin said with an unenthusiastic tone in his voice.
"Yeah, and I'm not going anywhere! ...at least for a few hours." Rob said as he looked at Joe. "What's with him?" Rob now whispered to Zubin as he pointed to Joe.
Joe was sitting in the corner of the wall facing it. He was now wearing a black hoodie and his hair was mostly pushed to the side of his face. It also looked like he had thick eyeliner drawn around his eyes. Overall, he looked like an emo kid. He somehow managed to do all of this in just 30 minutes, which is the time it took to drive to Bora's house and to come back.
"I think he's got an emo phase going on or something. I don't know why even." Zubin whispered back.
"Do you think we should ask him if he's okay??"
"Sure. He'll probably go no but you go for it. I believe in you, Rob."
Rob scoffed and rolled his eyes at Zubin's reply. He started to walk up to Joe and tapped his shoulder. Joe slowly looked back at Rob, taking out his earbud and giving a "what do you want" face to Rob. He didn't say it but he could tell that it meant that.
"Hey, Joe...what's with this new look of yours?" Rob asked hesitantly.
"Just trying something new. You know." Joe replied.
Rob was weirded out. Joe wasn't the type to randomly go emo. Sometimes Joe would wear an all-black outfit sometimes, but that's only if he had nothing to wear or didn't care about the color of the clothes that day. Rob wondered if there was another reason that Joe went emo. Maybe something underneath the surface. He then realized he was just standing there, caught up in his thoughts. Joe was looking at him weirdly so Rob then walked away and flopped down on his bed.
"You all worry me," Rob said but it was muffled by the thickness of the bed.
"Well, you worry us. Sometimes." Zubin replied.
Rob sat up and laid on the bed. "You wanna know who really worries me?"
"Who?"
"Ross. Ever since this whole thing happened he's not himself. He's just become a worryful man who pretends it's all fine but we all know it's not. I mean, not that he shouldn't be! We're all worried about it. Just him...a little much. After this, I think we should have Ross get some alone time to himself. Like a vacation, but you don't really go anywhere. He could go anywhere but it would be expensive."
"So what about the band?" Joe chimed in.
"I don't know. Guess we're just gonna have to take a tiny break or however long Ross wants his break to be. In the meantime, we could write. I guess." Rob replied.
"Are we gonna have to bring in Steve?" Zubin asked.
"GOD NO-" Rob exclaimed. "Never ever again. Nope. Even though I thought that man was perfect for the band, he was more stressful to deal with than Ross. To be honest I'm kinda glad he's gone."
"Same."
"Joe?"
"Eh...sure. He wasn't perfect as Rob told him to be though. But that's okay. We're all human..." Joe replied as he turned back around into his corner and listened to his music.
"Well, he's not wrong," Zubin whispered to Rob.
And just after Zubin spoke, Winter sneezed. It was adorable. The two went "Aw!" in unison since they thought the bunny sneezing was the cutest thing on planet earth. Rob got off the bed and waddled over to the bunny to pet it and to boop its nose.
"She is literally the most adorable thing on planet earth," Rob said as he booped Winter's nose. "OKAY! Now that I'm done with the bunny I want us to have fun. We are all very bored. RIGHT?"
Rob kind of sounded threatening when he said "right", so Zubin & Joe both nodded profusely. They didn't know what he was gonna do if they didn't agree with him.
"Let's play a game of...Uno." Rob said.
Joe let out a heavy sigh. "Doesn't that break up friendships?"
"...no. J-just shut up and let's play," Rob muttered as he walked to the tiny closet full of the band's stuff. He went to a random bag in the closet and got out the Uno box. He then went back to the 2 others and sat down on the floor and patted it. "Sit."
Joe & Zubin went on the floor and watched Rob sort out all of the cards. He was actually kind of peaceful now, and not so threatening. But Rob was putting on a fake act so he could pull out the more threatening side of him when they played. So he could win, of course! And he said the game doesn't break up friendships...
~(yeah I am doing the skips this quick, sorry :<)
Ross & Andrew looked at the various shapes of brownies. They were in the shapes of Christmas trees, gingerbread men, and squares. Bora sadly didn't have that many cookie cutters that would actually work with brownies.
"It's time for a taste test!" Ross said as he grabbed one of the brownies. He took a bite out of it and his eyes widened.
That bite was the best bite Ross had ever taken of something. It was warm and flooded his mouth with the chocolate flavor. Ross thought they tasted like what angels would probably bake. He started to take even more bites because the flavor was starting to become addicting.
But the brownies were just brownies, but with added ingredients at Andrew's request. Ross didn't want to add them since he thought Andrew knew nothing about baking but he did it because he didn't want to look like an asshole. Ross was right for letting him add the ingredients.
"Andrew..." Ross slowly said. Andrew gave him a confused face. "This is the best brownie I've ever tasted. Did you...did you put drugs in these? Were those other ingredients a weird recipe or something?"
The brownies were so good Ross now couldn't believe it was true. Andrew, who was a complete amateur at baking, made the best brownies he's ever tasted. He would say it would be the best thing he had ever tasted besides brownies but that would be a stretch.
"no! of course not. also thanks for the compliments. on the ride here I thought of things to put into the brownies. I promise I didn't put drugs in them" Andrew wrote.
"Ok. I believe you. But damn Andy, these are good. You did a great job since it was your first time baking! You should do this again."
Andrew thought about it for a second before writing down the stuff he was gonna say. Should he actually do baking again? Maybe. It could become a hobby he would enjoy. That he could do even after his voice comes back. Andrew smiled.
"yeah, I should."
Andrew certainly didn't regret making that decision. Over the span of a little over a week, he baked every day at Bora's house. Sometimes he baked by himself or with Ross again. He got better as the days went on. Ross's caffeine addiction started to not become an addiction anymore. Things were getting better! Especially since Andrew was gonna get his voice back soon.
But all that "getting better" stuff had to come to a stop. Not in a major way! Just things were a little too...perfect. So things had to become even. One day while walking around town together, Ross & Andrew discovered a flyer.
"Hm. Andrew, look at that flyer," Ross said as he pointed at the flyer stapled on the tree.
Andrew didn't know why Ross wanted him to look at the flyer, but he did anyway. It was a flyer for a baking contest. Andrew liked baking but he didn't think he was good enough to compete against other local bakers. He annoyingly got his notepad and started writing. "ok. It's a flyer for a baking contest. I don't see the appeal in this."
Ross rolled his eyes. "Dude, you can win money! 1000 dollars for 1st place, 500 dollars for 2nd place, and 200 dollars for 3rd place. We need some money!"
"do we though? we may not live in our house right now but that's only because of...you know."
Ross went silent for a second before speaking. "Okay? We still can use it. You have to have 2 people to enter! WE'RE 2 PEOPLE. And the last day to enter is...today! Let's go!"
Before Andrew could reply with a written response, Ross was dragging Andrew by the arm to some place. There was an address on the flyer so Andrew presumed he was taking him there. It was actually the address of the town square that also extended into a park as well. He saw two twin, brown-haired girls sitting at a booth. Probably taking entries for the contest.
But when Ross saw the twin girls, his confident act dropped, and his breath hitched. He tried to play it off as he walked towards the booth.
"H-hi. Can we enter?" Ross muttered.
"Sure!" One of the twins responded excitingly. "Names?"
"Ross Federman and Andrew Horowitz."
As the girls asked for more info about the entry, Ross replied shyly to the questions. He looked like he was in trouble and just got yelled at by his mother. Andrew looked at Ross strangely as he wondered why he was acting like this. They weren't Mary-Kate and Ashley so Andrew didn't understand.
Soon after the entry was finished and Ross & Andrew walked away. Ross then acted completely normal as if nothing happened.
Andrew tapped Ross on the shoulder. "why were you nervous around those twins? did you like them or something?"
"No. Don't you know them?!"
Andrew shook his head. Ross sighed.
"They are the daughters of one of the best bakers in town, hell the whole state, Mrs. H."
"you don't know her last name?"
"She just goes by that. Like a stage name or something. But those are her daughters, Lightbulb & Lightswitch."
Andrew almost burst out laughing as he heard those names. He didn't think it was real. He thought Ross was just fucking with him. But he then he knew Ross wasn't by the straight face he had. "why? who would name their children that??"
"I...don't know." Ross managed to say through all the giggling he was doing.
"why do you always mess with me"
"I'm not right now! I promise!"
Andrew rolled his eyes and continued to walk away with a giggling Ross. Even if Ross wasn't messing with him, those would be really stupid names. Andrew couldn't even imagine their last names. It was most likely something normal to go with the weird first names.
Once the two got back to the hotel room, Andrew told them about the twins. The rest of the tallies were all laughing besides Ross since he was trying to convince the 4 that those were the twins' actual names, and Andrew who couldn't speak but he smiled at the 3 anyway.
"Dude! That was funny as hell! I've never heard of these girls before. It's funny. Anyway, how'd you even find out about the contest?" Zubin said as he took a drink from a tiny water bottle.
"We were just walking around town when we saw this flyer on a tree. Then I just dragged Andrew to the signing up address." Ross replied.
"Hm. Lucky you guys."
"The best of us can find happiness in misery..." Joe said with an emo tone in his voice.
Rob banged his fist on the tiny dining table he was sitting at. "Goddamn it Joe- stop quoting Fall Out Boy songs! This is like your 10th this week!"
Joe sighed as he flipped his straightened, long hair that went well over his eyes and looked towards the window in an angsty way. Andrew looked at Rob & Joe with a confused face and started writing on his notepad.
Andrew nudged Zubin's shoulder. "why is Joe quoting Fall Out Boy songs? has he been doing it this whole time and I didn't know?"
"I don't know," Zubin whispered into Andrew's ear. "I guess it's better than My Chemical Romance quoting, which is probably the most emoest band of all time. Not that there's anything wrong with that! It's just a bit weird with how Joe's acting right now."
Andrew shrugged. It kinda was better than that. But he was worried for Joe. Was the stress getting to him or was he just going through a phase (hahah)? He hoped it was just a phase. That was only because he didn't want Joe quoting more Fall Out Boy songs. And to not be super stressed! Yeah. He didn't forget about that. Totally didn't...
"So," Ross spoke up. "What should we bake for the competition?"
"Maybe a cake? It's a basic idea but you can decorate a cake to where it looks more than basic. You guys can do that! ...I think." Rob suggested.
"Yeah! We can. What theme should it be since we're gonna decorate it?"
Everyone had a lot of ideas, and they unfortunately said them ALL out loud. At the same time. Some of the ideas were related to spring, while Joe suggested gothic. Ross or Andrew had never seen a gothic cake before, so they went with it. Little did they know that it would be a whole process just to even practice it.
~
It was now 2 days until the contest and Ross & Andrew practiced until then. Neither of them have made a gothic cake before, let alone a very decorated cake. It got to Ross since he now took baking seriously. It didn't get to Andrew since he was excited, he was about to gain his voice back. The contest was barely on his mind.
"AUGH!" Ross yelled as he threw the frosting bag on the floor. He heavily sighed into his palms.
The two were practicing at Bora's house today, again. The second time since they went home for their break. Ross was stressed, while Andrew was annoyed. But Andrew wasn't too far gone as Ross was to see that he was about to stab something (or someone) with the sharp metal frosting tip.
Andrew set his hand on Ross's shoulder. "you okay? do you wanna stop?"
"I...sure. It's just this cake. It's so hard to decorate and I have to stress on ALL the details."
"you don't have to overthink this too much. let's stop. we can eat the little amount we made. or give them to Bora, like we have been doing."
Ross laughed and grabbed a literal handful of the cake. "Yeah."
Andrew's eyes physically widened. He thought maybe he was gonna cut up the cake and eat it that way, but no. He just grabbed fistfuls of cake and started to eat it. Not that Andrew thought it was bad. He just...thought it was a little odd. But he didn't wanna judge Ross, so he started to eat handfuls of the cake too.
Bora thought he was gonna walk in on a normal situation when he came home from work. Maybe Ross & Andrew weren't there and Bora could have some peace. But unfortunately, what was happening was not very normal. He walked into the kitchen to see the two both eating cake from their hands while frosting was all over the floor, and on their faces.
"Uhm..." Bora muttered. "Why?"
"This isn't what you think it looks like," Ross replied.
"Then what is it?" Bora questioned.
"not what you think it looks like." Andrew somehow managed to write without getting cake all over the notepad & pen.
After that, Bora let them bake but only when he was in the house. It was now the day of the baking contest. The two woke up early (6:30 since the contest started at 8:00) and headed straight to the contest. They of course were a bit early to the contest so they saw all of the people setting up their baking stands (yes, actual stands). There was also a table that was for 3 judges with a fancy lace tablecloth on it.
Out of all the people in the semi-crowd, the two saw the twins again. This time they were wearing cute little chef outfits with matching aprons & chef hats. They were on their phones and one of the twins was holding a yorkie dog. It had it's some of its fur tied up in little bows.
"there are the twins named after electricity" Andrew wrote on his notepad. Ross laughed and so did Andrew, but it came out as a cough. It didn't hurt. Andrew was surprised.
"Dude! Are you getting your voice back?" Ross asked as a smile formed on his face.
"Maybe," Andrew tried to say but it came out as a little squeal. He frowned.
"Hey, you'll get it back soon. Literally."
Andrew shrugged and looked around. Out of all the stands he didn't know which one was theirs. Each one was the same with a blue tablecloth on it, baking utensils, ingredients, a tiny "sink" and an oven. "which one is ours?"
"Don't know. How bout' we go ask the electricity twins?" Ross said as he started walking towards the girls. Andrew smiled.
"Hey, do you guys know where our table is?"
The twin holding the dog looked up from their phone and looked up at Ross & Andrew blankly. They flipped their hot pink flip phone off (YES, THEY HAD AN ACTUAL FLIP PHONE THIS IS THE LATE 2000's WHAT DO YOU EXPECT) and grabbed a clipboard from their stand behind them. "Names?"
"Ross Federman & Andrew Horowitz."
"Oh! You two from yesterday. Yeah, your table is over there," The twin said as they pointed to a stand by a tree that was well-shaded. They gave a smile to Ross & Andrew.
"Ok. Thanks..." Ross muttered as he led Andrew through the crowd.
Andrew turned his head around and saw the twin's smile drop and turn into a look of disgust. They whispered something to the other twin and made them look at Andrew. Andrew was surprised! They could act so nice but then turn on you in literally 2 seconds. It reminded him of the girls in his old high school. But before Andrew could try and say something about it, he and Ross were already at the stand. He had to unfortunately hold off on how he felt.
The stand had more details than the other stands. There were 2 white aprons & chef hats placed carefully & folded on the table. They had "[UNDISCLOSED LOCATION] Annual Baking Contest Spring 2009" Embroidered on them with gold embroidery floss. While Ross was obsessing over the hats & aprons, Andrew stared at the twins from afar. Usually, Andrew staring at a pair of twins would be for a good reason (ish) but this time it wasn't.
"These aprons and hats are so cute! Let's take a picture!" Ross exclaimed as he put the apron and chef's hat on. He randomly pulled a camera out of his pocket.
Andrew nodded and put on the apron & hat. He posed with Andrew and flinched a bit when the camera flashed and took the picture. Ross put the camera away when everyone got to their stands as three judges sat at their table. They were Mrs. H and two random people.
"Hello everybody! I'm Mrs. H and welcome this Spring's annual baking contest! Everyone can bake anything they want. As long as it impresses me, people who win in 1st place will win 1000 dollars!" Mrs. H exclaimed. The crowd somehow went wild and all clapped.
"That's not it though, 2nd place will win 500. 3rd will win 200! I will give you all 6 hours to bake then give me your pastries. Oh! and please, wash your hands before baking. Now, bake!"
After Mrs. H spoke the sound of an air horn was played from...somewhere. Everyone rushed to wash their hands or began baking what they wanted to bake. Ross & Andrew forgot to wash their hands before coming so they hurried to wash their hands before then running around to get the ingredients. It was hard for them to communicate since Andrew couldn't speak yet and Ross was trying to hurry.
~
It was maybe 4 or 3 hours in when Rob & Zubin showed up. Or "visited" them in their terms. They crept up behind them, guitar and bass hanging on them and wearing their classic ties. Andrew nearly screamed when he saw the two. Instead, he just slapped his chest. Rob & Zubin burst out laughing.
"Ha! Dude, we thought you were gonna get your voice back," Zubin laughed.
"Oh! Hey, Rob & Zubes. What's up?" Ross asked as he turned around to see Rob & Zubin.
"Nothin'," Rob replied. "Just going to the interview and figured we'd visit you guys first."
"Oh."
"why are you guys here?" Andrew wrote.
"Do we need a reason?" Zubin questioned.
"yeah." Andrew replied.
"Pshh, we don't. It's just your good ol' pals visiting ya." Zubin said as he patted Andrew's back.
"Heh. Wait, what's the dog doing?"
The same yorkie from before was now running all over people's stands and ruining their pastries. People screamed and tried to bat away the dog but it ruined their pastries. The dog was going row to row destroying and barking at the people. The twins, they just stood at their stands pretending to be shocked. They didn't do anything at all.
"Oh nooo..." One of the twins tried to say with concern. It came out as if they didn't care which was probably true.
"Oh my! Dude, what do we do, it's gonna come towards us any second now!" Ross shouted as he frantically looked around.
Zubin looked at his bass and Rob's guitar. For some reason, it was like they were literally CALLING to him. That's when an idea popped into his head. Play the guitar and bass to scare away the dog! It wouldn't be that loud but loud enough to scare away the dog. Zubin threw his bass over his chest and tapped Rob's shoulder.
"Rob, play your guitar. I'm gonna play my bass." Zubin said.
"Why? This is NOT the time to jam out!" Rob yelled.
"WE'RE DOING THIS TO SCARE THE DOG AWAY!"
"Okay, okay! What song do we play?"
Zubin thought hard for a second. "Greener."
"Is that gonna work?!"
"JUST PLAY THE FUCKING SONG!"
Rob nervously nodded and began playing the song's intro along with Zubin. Rob let out a tiny sigh. "Damn you, Joe..."
Ross & Andrew just stood there, bewildered as the song actually managed to scare the dog away. The dog stopped in its tracks and looked around to see where the sound was coming from. Since Ross & Andrew's stand was far away from the dog, the dog couldn't see so it ran back to the twins.
The twins clearly had a mad look on their faces. Not for their dog ruining almost everything, but for it NOT ruining everything. A person took away the dog and ran off somewhere. Mrs. H ran to the judges' table and grabbed the mic.
"Okay, I am SO sorry for what my beloved daughters' dog, Qwerty just did. I wish I could repair all of your delicious pastries but I cannot. So I have given you all an extra hour! I'm so sorry." Mrs. H said.
Mrs. H walked away from the table and up to her daughters' stand. She was furious. "I can't believe you two!" She whisper-shouted. "You do this every year! This time I mostly blame you, Lightbulb! You suggested getting the dog in the first place."
Lightbulb pretended to act shocked. "Me?! I just wanted a pet for Christmas! You can't blame me for that!"
"I can. I should have NEVER gotten you girls that dog. You girls are grounded! No TV, no going out, no internet OR phone, and no shopping for 3 weeks!"
The twins were going to protest back but Mrs. H stormed away from them and to the judges' table. She couldn't believe that maybe a whole week of planning was all went to waste, again by her daughters. She still loved them but they were starting to get annoying. Mrs. H sighed into her hands.
Back to the tallies of course, they all just stood there in absolute disbelief of what just happened. The song managed to actually scare away the dog. For once, Zubin's ideas actually worked. Wow. Everyone clap!!! Zubin wasn't a dumbass!!! (I meant that in a good way, I promise)
"um. good job guys. thank you. but I think you should get going before we get in trouble." Andrew wrote.
"Yeah. No problem..." Rob muttered. "Bye!"
He and Zubin began running back to wherever they came from. Ross & Andrew may have been so surprised that the song actually worked but that didn't mean they didn't stop baking. Andrew continued to frost the cake while Ross got the decorations ready.
The two maybe decorated the cake for 3 more hours after that. When another air horn played, they had just finished decorating the cake. The cake was actually a gothic cake. No other things to make it look Halloween-ish, it was just gothic. It was purple and had 4 layers which were carefully decorated with even more darker purple patterns. At the base of the cake, it had 4 red hearts.
It had black frosting on it frosted to look as if it were dripping. 3 candles were lit on it, the colors being red, maroon, and purple. A bone with a skull sat next to a tiny grave that said "R.I.P. Youth". Andrew added it since most of the band weren't as young as they were when they started the band and became friends.
(just imagine it looking like that, also tysm to my BFF yuri for drawing that!!! your hard work is deeply appreciated ^^)
"Alright, everyone! The time has run out, unfortunately. I hope you all baked something delicious that might win you some money," Mrs. H said with a wink. "I will be choosing who goes by pulling out names from this jar! Who goes first is..." She went through the jar and pulled out a piece of paper. Her smile completely was wiped off of her face.
"My daughters, Lightbulb & Lightswitch. Yay. Guys, come up to the table..."
Even though they had pissed off their mother, they proudly walked up to the judges' table with grins on their faces and gave the judges a plate of different sugar cookies that were spring themed. Some were flowers, bunnies, and...other things spring.
The judges all took bites out of the cookies. They were expecting to taste the regular sugary taste of sugar cookies, but that's the opposite of what they tasted. They only tasted some sugar for the rest was hints of apple and cinnamon. The twins somehow managed to make the cookies taste those flavors.
"Oh, wow. Even though I am mad at them right now I am impressed! I would say a 9/10!" Mrs. H exclaimed.
The twins' grins were completely wiped off of their faces when they heard the rating from their mother. They didn't care about the other ratings given by the other judges, which were good. Their time had ended by the time they almost stormed off. Mrs. H rolled her eyes and pulled out another paper.
"Our next contestants are...Andrew Horowitz and Ross Federman! Come up!"
Ross & Andrew nearly screamed (because Andrew still couldn't speak) when they heard their names. They quickly calmed themselves down and headed to the table, goth cake in their hands. Andrew sweated at the hundreds of eyes staring at him & Ross. Maybe not hundreds, most likely 20 people. But it was close enough to him.
"Here is our cake!" Ross said as he carefully set the cake on the table. He stood back with Andrew and smiled, his eyes not leaving the judges.
"Quite a unique cake, I've never seen a cake like this one before." One of the judges replied.
"Indeed it is..." Mrs. H replied. As she cut the cake, Andrew's eye flinched. He knew it was gonna be halfly eaten but he wasn't ready for half of his hard work to be eaten. "And it tastes good! My rating is a 8/10. Almost a 9, but an 8 because I've tasted this flavor and texture of the cake so many times. A 7 for creativity."
Ross & Andrew smiled as they got the other judges' ratings, which weren't bad. When they were done Andrew snatched the cake off the table and headed back to their stand before Ross could even blink. When they got back to the table, Andrew almost threw the cake onto the ground.
"You good, buddy?" Ross asked with a concerned look on his face.
Andrew profusely nodded and got his notepad. "yes. now please get this flour off the table or else I will snort it."
"O-oh. Okay then." Ross replied as he swept away the excess flour they had from baking the cake before.
~
After rating all of the people's pastries and a lunch break, it was finally time for the winners to be announced. Ross & Andrew were shaking (especially Ross since it was cold that day and he forgot his jacket) as they waited for the judges to finish their decision, just as every contestant was.
When Mrs. H walked back up to the judges' table everyone was excited as hell. Everyone whispered to each other about either who'd win, whether it'd be themselves or a fellow contestant. Everyone had fairly well ratings so anyone could just win.
"So," Mrs. H said as she grabbed the mic. "Me and the judges have decided who are the winners. Whoever wins each place must come up to receive their ribbon and check. Who wins 1st place is... Lightswitch & Lightbulb!"
Everyone clapped but most rolled their eyes. Of course they won! They were the daughters of one of the judges. But some didn't care, they knew they would win. Now all they cared about is who would win 2nd place.
"And who wins 2nd place is...Ross Federman & Andrew Horowitz."
"Oh my fucking god," Andrew said. SAID. He quickly put his hand over his mouth and gasped.
Ross didn't hear but he dragged Andrew to the stage. They got their ribbon and check, and waited for the 3rd winner to come up which they eventually did. They all took pictures and then went back to their stands. As Ross & Andrew got back to theirs, Andrew tapped Ross on the shoulder.
"Hm?"
"Guess what?" Andrew said with a smile.
Ross's mouth dropped wide open. "YOU GOT YOUR VOICE BACK!" Ross exclaimed, jumping everywhere and shaking Andrew by the arms.
"Don't be too excited. My voice is still raspy and I can't yell," Andrew replied.
"So?! You got it back! AND, we just won 500 dollars. This is...well, not the best day ever but close enough!"
"Whatever you say, Ross." Andrew laughed.
After the contest, the two went back home. They waited for Rob & Zubin to come back from the interview so they could tell them the good news. Once they came home the tallies all decided to go to a fancy restaurant with the money Ross & Andrew had won.
Andrew sighed as he slouched in the fancy chair. "I don't ever wanna bake ever again, to be honest."
"Same. I'm so tired..." Ross replied.
"Aww. Do you wanna go home?" Rob mocked. The rest laughed (or at least tried to) while Ross was halfly falling asleep.
The tallies all had a normal 2 weeks, for the first time in what felt like forever. It may not have been in their classic home but the 5's dynamic still kept them from not being bored. And for Ross...everything was normal. Or beginning to be normal. Just as he wanted.
~fin
word count: 8234 words (almost hit my most words written, oh my god)
so, hi. sorry for not publishing in like...4 or 5 months. I kinda lost track of time? I know it sounds weird, but it happened. I worked so hard night after night to finish this that it's not even funny ;-; also sorry again if the story tone changes once in a while I wrote this over those 4 or 5 months. again, tysm to my BFF for drawing the cake!!! she won't see this but I am really grateful that she drew it :) I'm gonna go now. buh-bye! have a good day/night :))))
p.s. me and my BFF actually created lightbulb & lightswitch one night by fucking around on a call whilst playing a game :) their last name is hypothermia btw. I know it's weird, but don't ask