a clutter of metal woke you up. it was followed by a dull thud of something falling to the ground.
you groaned as you glanced over to the alarm clock on your nightstand, narrowing your eyes at the bright screaming numbers.
it was barely seven am. on a saturday morning.
you heard a set of mumbles as the person probably picked up the fallen thing.
oh, well. you buried your head into the pillow.
c/n was doing his magic in the kitchen again.
c/n was a long friend of yours, and also your flatmate as of the last year. since you had gone to universities in the same city, you both decided to find a small, cozy flat that you could rent instead of living in dormitories, splitting the rent evenly. this arrangement involved you regularly getting woken up by him in the early mornings during the weekend as well.
not that you minded, though. of course not.
he'd always give you the pastry or bagel he made to try for yourself, which often served as your delicious, warm breakfast. he was training to be a baker or a confectioner, which involved him baking lots and lots of bread, cakes, bagels, buns, pastries and so on. usually in the early morning - because why not, as he claimed.
and, even though he navigates himself in the kitchen with ease, confidently, he still could be quite clumsy sometimes.
this fact had just gotten proven by the sound of another thing falling to the ground, which you could hear to your room. this seemed to be a heavier thing, though.
since all the ruckus got you wide awake anyway, you groggily got out of the bed (keeping the comforter wrapped around you to not lose the warmth) and strolled into the kitchen, dragging your feet heavily.
"what are you doing, c/n?" you asked, motioning to the mess on the kitchen counter. "can't you just go back to sleep?" you pleaded, knowing well enough this was a lost fight. he would never go back to bed after starting to work on a new recipe.
"did i wake you up? i'm so sorry, i tried to be quiet." the boy looked at your sleepy form apologetically. you swayed in the air slightly.
"is everything fine, though? i heard a loud bam," you knitted your eyebrows together, looking over him, trying to find any visible injuries.
"don't worry. i just dropped the bowl," he smiled, lifting the bowl he was holding in one hand to show you it really was nothing. as he looked over at you, his smile only widened. "gosh, you look a mess. you should sleep more." setting the bowl onto the counter, he walked closer to spin you round by placing his hands on your blanket clad shoulders, and pushed you to your room.
"there you go," he uttered as he watched you lay back down, his fingers reaching up to tuck a stray strand of hair from your forehead backwards so that it wouldn't bother your eyes. "i'll be more quiet now, i promise," he whispered and vanished to the kitchen to finish his project.
the second time you woke up, it was when c/n was shaking your arm. "y/n. y/n. y/n. y/n," he kept repeating your name until you pried an eye open to glance at him.
"what?"
"it's ten already. i made bagels. they're already cooled down," he informed you. didn't ask you to taste them - although the question was slyly incorporated into his statement and you knew it.
rubbing sleep away from your eyes, you hoisted yourself up on the mattress into a sitting position. "i'll be ready in five minutes." all you needed to do was to go to the bathroom to do your business. you didn't bother much with your hair or covering up any skin flaws - you didn't care whether c/n saw you like this. you felt comfortable enough to be in his presence even if you weren't put together neatly, braless, bare faced. he had seen you like that thousands of times.
he was waiting for you leaned against the table, propped up on his elbows. he hummed happily while you glared, still a bit grumpy from having been woken up just a few minutes ago.
"here, try this one." he slid a plate with the bagel on it. it looked fluffy and crunchy and when you bit into it, the crust gave way to soft dough inside which dissipated on your tongue like a cotton candy would.
it was heavenly good.
"is it good?" he asked, as if reading your thoughts. he was wearing a grin, obviously happy about his newly made recipe, and leaned closer towards you.
"good? it's delicious," you replied with your mouth still full, chewing.
he laughed in response, not taking his e/c eyes away from you for even a second. the whole time he watched you eat, a small, soft smile wax plastered across his lips.
he continued looking at you even when you finished eating the bagel and took a sip of water. he was looking at you as if he wanted to say something, the words just on the tip of his tongue.
you waited for him to say it, but his voice was not coming out. he was just staring without opening his mouth. contemplating whether he should say it, do it.
he didn't seem to register the fact that you were staring back, back into his pretty face, with h/c locks overlapping the shape, his eyes almost shining with the thoughts that went on behind them.
"what's up?" you decided to break the silence at last. he was so lost in thought that his head snapped back when he heard you speak.
a confused expression appeared on his face momentarily before he realized what you have asked, and then his cheeks flushed a bright pink. "what? nothing. i'm glad you liked the bagel," he mumbled the last, looking down at his sock clad feet to hide his blush.
even though you felt slightly off about that, knowing he had something on mind, you decided to just let it go. if he'll want to tell you, he will, eventually. shrugging at him, you stretched your arms behind you, falling into a more natural theme, "so, what are your plans for today?"
"nothing," he said quickly. then shook his head, "uh, i mean. i don't know." he scratched the back of his head, tilting his head to the side.
you thought he didn't seem like his usual self that day. but you didn't press, spending the rest of the day separately, both of you working on your own stuff since he didn't seem particularly keen to do anything with you.
the next morning, the whole process was practically repeated. he was baking something, you woke up, only you fell asleep again without checking up on him, and then he didn't come to wake you up - you woke up yourself to a pleasant, rich smell filling your nose.
you wondered what c/n baked this time.
you found him washing the bowls and cuttlery after himself in the kitchen sink. sitting down, you stared at his back, watching his muscles flex under the shirt of his fabric.
"good morning," you greeted when he turned off the water.
he jumped up in surprise, quickly turning around. "y/n. when did you get here? i didn't notice."
there really must've been something bothering him if he didn't even notice you enter. what got him so caught up in his head?
he laughed embarrassed, trying to brush off his startling. "anyway. i made a pastry filled with (fav/filling). i also put (fav/spice) into the dough," he explained, offering you one pastry to try.
your fingers brushed his as you reached to take it from his hand and he retreated his hand in a hurry back to his chest when you securely held onto the baked goodie. he turned away from you, hiding his face beneath strands of h/c hair.
you wanted to ask him again, what is it on his mind, but opted not to at last. he was avoiding it clearly, so you bit into the pastry to at least tell him what you thought of it.
when he heard you humm in pleasure, he turned back around to look at you, a hopeful expression on his face and the question 'how is it' practically written all over his face. he waited for you to snack it all down with anticipation of your opinion.
licking the tips of your fingers clean of crumbs, you nodded to yourself. "that's it. i need a new one to tell you what i think because my brain completely stopped functioning after taking the first bite."
a goofy grin spread his cheeks cutely, eyes sparkling. he handed you another one gladly. "eat as much as you want. this recipe still needs some modifications made, it's not as perfect as i would like it to be."
"not perfect? this is literally the definition of perfection."
he chuckled, softly shaking his head while turning away from your gaze again. although, still, while you ate, pretending to pay attention solely to the pastry between your fingers, you could not help but notice the glances he stole at you.
when you were done with the second pastry as well, you took that four steps from the table to c/n, who was standing by the kitchen counter. "really, this was amazing. i don't understand how you can do something like that." you couldn't bake like he could. you envied him, slightly.
you tried to catch his eyes as you said it.
"really, what's on your mind?" you let slip out.
you felt the hot breath on your face as he sighed, standing close to him. he searched your face for an instant, deciding if he should tell you or no.
"i wanna do something stupid, but i know i probably shouldn't," he admitted, staring fully into your eyes now.
there was something inside them, something-
you took an inching step closer to him.
"why not?"
"i think i'm going to regret it later," he gulped, lowering his voice into a whisper. you felt his breath fan your cheeks due to the close proximity. his orbs were flickering between your eyes, left, right, left, right.
"do it if you want to," you whispered back, hardly parting your lips as you voiced the words aloud.
you stared into his eyes of e/c hues the whole time, seeing them flicker from your one eye, down to your lips before returning back to the eye on the other side. he did this twice before letting his gaze linger on your lips longer.
you were beginning to feel hot. "kiss me if you want to."
one last look into your eyes to look for assurance and then he crashed his lips with yours, passionately yet gentle. hands circling your waist, he melted into the kiss, feeling the taste of his pastry on the tender flesh of your lips.
you needed to rest one of your arms against the kitchen counter so as not to lose your balance from the unexpected force and strength, placing the other atop his chest, his beating heart.
"are you regretting it?" you asked, breathless, when you parted. both your cheeks were painted a crimson red.
"not by a chance," he replied hastily before glueing himself on your mouth again.
after the kiss, he swallowed you in a hug and hid his face in the crook of your neck. "i'm never going to let you go now, when i finally have you." you could feel the smile in his voice. your own cheeks were hurting from smiling.