A/n: Newsflash! I hit writer's block while writing the 3rd chapter and ended up baking lemon bread instead. That's also how i ended up with this filler chapter. This is like completely unrelated to the main plot but it's a little "treat" before the actual chapter that will probably be out sometime tomorrow if I can finish it in time :')
Spent a bit of time looking for visuals so you guys could see Atsushi's oven mitts as well! (I'm actually a firm believer that he would own a pair of those)
Also this being a fluff filler definitely doesn't have anything to do with the next chapters, no, no, no.... I'm just nice like that! I just freely offer fluff whenever yk? This definitely isn't a compensation of any sort....
"Hello, hello! And welcome to my baking show," Atsushi pauses and thinks of a name for a second, "Baking with Atsushi!"
"Very original, weretiger..." Akutagawa says, displeased with Atsushi's idea of a pretend baking show. He finds it weird that Atsushi
wants to pretend to film a baking show when instead, he could just talk to Akutagawa like normal people do.
"Oh, come on, don't be so sour. That's this lemons job!" Atsushi raises up a lemon to demonstrate it to Akutagawa, "That's right, today I'll be attempting to make lemon bread!"
"Who would want sour bread?" Akutagawa stops Atsushi once again, not understanding why anyone would want bread... with lemons.
"Well, it's not actually bread, it's basically cake."
"Then why do they call it bread if it's cake?"
"Because it's supposed to be baked in a bread pan, I guess?"
"Why would anyone want to bake a cake in a bread pan? Have you seen anyone bake bread in a cake pan?"
Silence falls upon them, and Atsushi simply sighs as he puts the lemon down. He never really thought or asked if Akutagawa likes desserts and now that he starts thinking about it, he is not sure if Akutagawa has ever explored the world of food besides the awfully boring things he gets at the store. It doesn't really matter; he'll be the one to introduce him to lemon bread in that case!
"Okay. Moving on! The ingredients you'll be needing are 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and two tablespoons of lemon zest, ½ of room temperature butter, 1 cup of sugar, ½ cup of milk, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and 1 ½ cups of flour!" Atsushi is almost out of breath as he finishes saying all of that, but he quickly recovers, and looking at Akutagawa, he can tell he has a question.
"What is it, Akutagawa?" He asks while slowly measuring all the ingredients in separate bowls.
"Is it necessary for you to pretend like you're filming a cooking show?" Akutagawa asks in a laid-back manner and rests his head on his hand as if bored.
"Yes, it very much is important! It would be boring to watch me bake otherwise." Atsushi smiles.
Akutagawa doesn't think it would be boring but seeing how excited Atsushi looks, Akutagawa doesn't bring it up anymore. As confusing as it seems to him, he just lets Atsushi do his thing.
Once Atsushi is done with weighing all the necessary things, without any further explanation, he moves on. "Okay so now, we're going to mix the sugar with the 2 tablespoons of lemon zest until well incorporated!"
He pours sugar into the big bowl in front of him and then adds grated lemon zest to it. With a spoon, he mixes it all together until the sugar is yellow.
Akutagawa lifts his head from his hand and straightens his back while leaning forward to see into the bowl better. Noticing this, Atsushi smiles but says nothing about it. He finds it weirdly fun to see how Akutagawa tries to act uninterested in things but fails miserably. He likes that Akutagawa is curious.
"Now we'll add ½ of room temperature butter and with a mixer, we'll mix it until it's light and fluffy." Atsushi faces Akutagawa and asks, "Where is the hand mixer?"
"What hand mixer?"
Atsushi looks at Akutagawa and Akutagawa looks right back at Atsushi. It's more like they blankly stare at each other for a minute until Atsushi breaks the silence that has appeared in the kitchen.
"You don't have a hand mixer??" He asks, shocked at this information, and turns to Akutagawa's kitchen cupboards, rummages through them and after he's done, turns back to Akutagawa with a disappointed look on his face.
"How did I not think about this? It didn't even cross my mind that you don't have a hand mixer. Oh well, we'll just have to mix it with a whisk" Atsushi sighs, clearly disappointed.
...
"Akutagawa," Atsushi says as he drops the whisk into the bowl and wipes sweat off his forehead, "Can you please help me?"
"I already told you before we started that I will not be helping you." Akutagawa looks up from his book and scans the sight in front of him. Looks more like Atsushi is the one getting beat not the other way around. Akutagawa almost laughs at the thought but composes himself and puts a bookmark in between the pages of his book before closing it.
"Please, please, please, Akutagawa. If you don't help, we'll be here all evening and I won't even get to baking until the morning." Atsushi pleads and smiles in relief as he sees Akutagawa get up from his seat. His relief doesn't last long though as he sees Akutagawa slowly pass him and get a glass of water for himself.
"As I said, I'm not helping you. Good luck though." He raises his water glass as if cheering Atsushi and goes to sit down on the couch in the living room, smirking as he passes Atsushi.
"You are actually the worst." Atsushi turns back to the bowl and irritated, resumes whipping the butter with the sugar.
After about 10 minutes of beating the butter with the sugar, Atsushi is finally done, and Akutagawa returns to the kitchen. Atsushi eyes him with annoyance but moves on to the next step.
"Now, after an exhausting workout, you'll have to add two eggs and lemon juice and beat them into the butter mixture until well combined."
Akutagawa carefully watches as Atsushi pours lemon juice into the bowl and then skilfully cracks open two eggs. As he mixes everything together Atsushi starts to wonder if Akutagawa will even like lemon bread. What if he doesn't? And this was all for nothing?
"Are you there, weretiger?" Akutagawa waves his hand in front of Atsushi's face, checking where Atsushi has gone to.
"Ah, yes, got carried away in my thoughts."
"What thoughts?"
Atsushi puts a tablespoon of baking powder into the batter and mixes it in before answering, "Well, it's rather stupid."
"Most things you say are stupid, but I listen to them anyways, don't I?"
"How reassuring." Atsushi rolls his eyes and starts switching between sifting in the flour and pouring milk into the bowl.
"Okay, maybe not most things, just some." Akutagawa tries to make his words seem better and Atsushi just shakes his head.
"I was just thinking that maybe you won't like this. And that it will be all for nothing, you know?" He stirs the batter thoroughly, making sure there are no clumps, and then pours it into a bread pan that's already lined with baking paper. He smooths out the top of the batter and then puts the pan into the already-heated oven.
"Oh." Akutagawa seems to be deep in thought for a second. "Well, I usually prefer more bitter or sour desserts over extremely sweet ones, so lemon cake should be fine... And in any case, if I don't like it, we'll both learn something new."
Atsushi looks at Akutagawa and places all the dirty dishes into the sink. He's knows Akutagawa is right. It's not a big deal anyways. And if Akutagawa doesn't like it, Atsushi will get to look for more recipes that he might like.
But as much as this way of thinking tries to soothe Atsushi's overthinking, it still leaves a lot of room for nervousness. It's his first time baking for someone else and that someone else is a person he cares about. The thought of disappointing him makes Atsushi anxious.
"Hey," Akutagawa moves in closer to Atsushi and places his hand over his. "I'm sure it's going to turn out great. You seemed excited about showing me this and I appreciate that. And... I'm not good at this word thing but you get it. I hope."
Atsushi's eyes light back up and he already feels less scared. Seeing Akutagawa using his words to try and calm him down is already a lot. He likes to see Alutagawa trying his best at something he has trouble with. He feels a warm and fuzzy feeling overtake him and he can't help but wrap his arms around Akutagawa and hold him. Akutagawa is surprised for a bit but then moves in to hug Atsushi as well.
"Now, how long does that lemon bread have to bake for?" Akutagawa asks, emphasizing the word bread, still unable to understand why it's called lemon bread and not lemon cake.
"About 40 minutes." Atsushi looks up at him.
"Shall we watch something while we wait?"
"Yes please, I need to sit down after that intense workout..." They both smile at each other and together, they walk to the living room.
***
The oven timer goes off and Atsushi lazily slides off the warm and comfortable couch. He takes one of the oven mitts and removes a beautifully baked lemon bread from the oven. He places it on the counter and without waiting, removes it from the bread pan.
Akutagawa slowly walks over to the kitchen, groggy and slightly tired, since he almost fell asleep while watching a movie, but he's ready to try what Atsushi has made for him. He sits down on the stool by the kitchen island and waits for Atsushi to serve the dessert to him.
"And now, the last step is to cut up the tasty treat you've made and serve it to someone you want to impress!" Atsushi slides a plate with a slice of lemon cake on it and without responding to what Atsushi said, Akutagawa picks up the dessert fork in his hand and takes the first bite.
Atsushi eagerly waits for Akutagawa's reaction. He leans in, trying to read any signs of dislike or disappointment on Akutagawa's face but finds none.
"Well, weretiger," Akutagawa announces once he's done chewing the bite he took, "This is quite nice. I like that it's not too sweet but not too sour either. Color me impressed, indeed."
Atsushi feels a wave of relief wash over him, but he doesn't let it show. Instead, he grabs his own plate and goes to taste the lemon bread himself. He is pleasantly surprised at how well it has turned out and as he looks at Akutagawa he feels happy that he gets to share this treat and moment with him.
Akutagawa also feels content with how the evening has turned out. He likes staying up late for whatever weird or crazy reasons Atsushi comes up with. He never really says it, but he appreciates the things Atsushi does for him. Even if they are little, tiny gestures of appreciation, his heart melts each time, with no exceptions.
And there they sit in the kitchen, in comfortable silence and the warm presence of each other, enjoying the evening and the delicious lemon cake that Atsushi has made. Sorry, I meant lemon bread*.