Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 54th cycle. Now cycle 55!

Favorites cycle - It's that time again, where I gather a list of my fifteen favorite characters, relationships, friendships, etc of the moment! It's constantly evolving, and if I did it over today, as the list was selected weeks ago, it would already be different. But oh well, there'll be later opportunities ;) So then, here we go!
At number 12 - Kurt & Rachel

This is a double shift day. There will be one more upload today: Padra's Run, chapter 4.

"Midnight Cake"
Kurt & Rachel

She wasn't sure if she'd been asleep already or if she'd been close to it, but she did know she was startled when she felt a weight at her side on the mattress and she opened her eyes to find her roommate and best friend Kurt staring down at her.

"What are you doing?" she blinked.

"It is barely midnight, you're eighteen, not eighty, what are you doing in bed?"

"What does it look like?"

"Get up, get dressed, I'm taking you somewhere," he declared, getting up.

"What? Why?" she begged.

"Because why not?" he countered, and she frowned at him. "Oh, come on, just get up already, I swear you won't regret it."

"Yeah, I've heard that before," she sat up, relenting nonetheless.

She had gotten dressed, all the while knowing he was on the other side of her door, waiting. Once she had been ready, she followed him out into the dark of New York City. They stuck close to one another as they walked, and she just had to follow him, since he knew where they were going and she didn't. Since he'd arrived, he hadn't quite gotten past his discovery phase, which she was all for, but she had been ready to sleep. Now that he'd dragged her out and she wind was on her face she did manage to wake up, but she was still reserving the right to smack him and insist they return home if whatever it was he was dragging her to didn't end up…

"I smell cake…" she breathed, a sudden thrill running through her, and he smiled.

"Then that means we're almost there."

"Why didn't you say there'd be cake, I would have hurried up," she teased.

"Because, there is such a thing as a surprise," he reminded her, and she laughed.

Within minutes they had landed in the bakery, still magically open, and they sat face to face, with a solid portion of cake at the mercy of their respective forks.

"Are you glad I brought you now?"

"Yes, all is forgiven," she told him with a smile and a mouthful. "Can we come here every day?"

"If you want to fit into your dance clothes, I wouldn't recommend," he pointed out. "Besides, something like this should be reserved for special occasions."

"What's the special occasion now?" she asked.

"Cake," he shrugged, and she laughed.

"This is perfect," she declared. "You, me, New York…"

"Cake," he said again, and she nodded, breathed out.

"It's everything we wanted… Well, almost everything," she corrected, and he agreed.

"I'm not complaining here," he told her, and she smiled.

"Still it's too bad it can't be all of us, all the way it used to be," she had to lament, and he sighed.

"I know. Thank goodness we have each other though."

"As the one who was here on her own for a while before you came, I can agree to that," she told him before taking another bite.

"One of these days, I have got to find a way to sneak in and see you and your guy in action."

"Brody's not…" she started, and he looked at her as though to say 'see?' "Eat," she ordered, turning her eyes back down. "No gossip," she ordered.

"Fine," he conceded. "Here's something, we have got to talk redecoration of our… residence."

"Oh, good, yes," she agreed, sitting up. "I can probably get my dads to send over some things from back home… Not exactly rich with extra money right now."

"Yeah, you and me both," he frowned. "But it doesn't have to cost much, if there's two resourceful people out there, it's you and me."

"We should totally have our own show," she smirked.

"That'll be plan B, in case all of this doesn't pan out, which it will," he insisted. "But we can make a list, and then we'll just work our way through it, in any way we can."

"Good, yes," she reached in her bag and pulled out her phone, starting the list. "Curtains might be a good idea. And we can make those."

"Yes, we can," he took her phone away, adding to it himself. "New towels for the bathroom. His and hers?" he asked, and she shrugged. "Yeah, maybe not," he agreed. She took the phone back.

"What about flowers?"

"Costly. Fake ones?" he suggested.

"I don't know, that feels sad…"

"Put a maybe on that one," he nodded, with another bite of cake. He took the phone again, typed something while he chewed, and then handed it back.

"Cake?" she looked back to him.

"We should take one home, for late night emergencies."

"Like on the Golden Girls?" she smirked, and he pointed his fork at her. "Because that won't keep me from fitting in my dance clothes," she shook her head. "Place mats," she added to the list.

"Goes with the curtains, we can make those," he pointed out.

The list had grown, while their cake had gotten smaller. When they were done, they had bought the 'emergency cake' and started on their way back home. They had arrived and, still digesting their unplanned desert, they had fallen back to rest side by side on her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"I'm going to have to restart my bedtime routine," Rachel breathed.

"Right," Kurt did the same.

"But thank you for taking me," she smiled, and he smiled back.

"Anytime."

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!