A/N: I honestly don't know where this one-shot came from. But it's cute. I really like it.
I don't own Spiderman. Or Cupcake Wars. Or Call the Midwife. Or Heartland. But I do own Lia.
Lia and Peter were sitting on the couch in the latter's apartment, channel surfing. Peter had his arm around Lia.
"There's nothing good on!" he complained, turning on an infomercial about vacuum cleaners.
"Sure there is!" Lia countered, trying to grab the remote. "I've suggested half a dozen shows now and you've turned them all down!"
Peter held the remote over his head, just out of his girlfriend's reach. "But all of the shows you suggested are girl shows! I don't want to watch Heartland or Call the Midwife."
Lia stood up to try and grab the remote once more, and Peter stood as well. Even when Lia jumped, she couldn't reach it. She glanced over at the TV, wrinkling her nose. Peter looked at the TV as well, trying to figure out what had caused her reaction to it.
With Peter successfully distracted, Lia was able to climb on the couch and jump, snatching the remote from Peter's hands. She grinned triumphantly, waving it in his face.
He gaped at her. "How did you do that?"
"I have my ways," she replied teasingly.
Then the remote was snatched from her hands. She and Peter looked behind them at the face of his Aunt May, who now had the remote in her possession.
"Well, if neither of you can decide what to watch, I'll pick a show," she stated.
She sat down on the couch next to Lia, who slid over to sit next to Peter again. He put his arm back around her. May pulled up the channel for Food Network, which was airing an episode of Cupcake Wars.
"This looks like a good show," she said.
The group of three watched for a while. They each ended up silently rooting for a different team. First Peter's team was eliminated, then Lia's. May was looking rather smug until her team ended up losing as well.
When the episode was over, Lia sat up and stretched. "Well now I'm just hungry," she said. "It's physically impossible to watch shows about food and not get hungry afterward."
"Well, what do you guys want?" May asked.
"Cupcakes, of course," she replied. Peter nodded behind her.
May got a glint in her eye. "If you guys want cupcakes, then go make some. Have your very own Cupcake War and see who can make the best ones."
Peter and Lia stared at each other, eyes narrowing. "Oh I'm so going to win this," Lia said.
"Don't be so sure," Peter challenged.
"Okay, here are the rules," May explained. "You each have one hour to make, bake, and frost one dozen cupcakes. You each get half the counter space. And no powers," she added, seeing the mischievous look on Lia's face.
"Darn it," she muttered.
She and Peter made their way to the kitchen and started dividing up counter space and ingredients. When everything was ready, May set a timer on her phone.
"All right. On your mark, get set, go!" she said.
The two teens sprung into action.
Lia had clearly baked before. Without even using a recipe, she measured flour and sugar with the practiced ease of somebody who was at home in the kitchen. Peter, on the other hand, had pulled up a cupcake recipe on his phone and was trying his best not to spill the contents of his mixing bowl all over the floor.
When Lia had finished making the batter, she heard Peter shout behind her. She glanced over her shoulder at him and laughed at cupcake batter splattered all over his t-shirt.
"Do you need some help over there?" she asked cheerfully.
"No," Peter grumbled, trying to wipe the muck off his shirt. All he succeeded in doing was smearing it everywhere. "Ugh!" he cried out. "Baking is hard!"
"It's not for everyone," she agreed. "Are you sure you don't need help?"
"Okay, so maybe I could use some help cleaning the cupcake batter off my shirt…" he mumbled.
Lia smiled and wet a paper towel in the sink before using it to gently remove the thick batter from his shirt. "What did you put in this?" she asked. "It's more glue then it is cupcake batter!"
Peter gasped at her, scandalized. He reached behind him and grabbed a handful of flour, tossing it at her. Most of it ended up in her hair.
It was Lia's turn to gasp. "What was that for?" she asked, trying to brush the flour out to no avail.
"For telling me my cupcake batter was more glue than batter," he replied smugly, crossing his arms over his chest.
Not one to be outdone, Lia reached behind her and grabbed a handful of cocoa powder, blowing it into his face. He coughed and stepped back.
"Did you just throw cocoa powder in my face?" he asked.
"What if I did?" she retorted back.
"Oh that's it!" he yelled.
Peter grabbed handful after handful of flour and began throwing it at Lia. In return, she began cracking eggs on his head. He poured milk on her, and she threw more cocoa powder at him. It stuck to the egg yolk dripping down his face, making him look like he had been playing in the dirt outside. He grabbed the mixing bowl containing the gluey cupcake batter and dumped the contents onto her head. He laughed, watching the sticky contents run down her face and into her eyes.
"Hey, no fair! I can't see!" she cried, flailing her arms around to try and find a towel.
Peter, ever the gentleman, handed her one. As soon as her vision returned, however, she dumped the contents of her mixing bowl onto his head as well. She laughed.
"Oh, so that's how you wanna play, huh?" he asked. He reached behind him and turned the electric mixer to the highest setting, grabbing the bag of powdered sugar and holding it above it. He grinned wickedly.
"You wouldn't," she pointed a finger at him.
"I would," he replied, angling the bag so that the sugar was close to falling into the mixer.
She stepped closer, holding her arms out. "No no no no no! Do you know how much of a mess that will make?"
"Yes, I do. That's why if you refuse to declare me the winner of this cupcake war, I will dump this entire bag of powdered sugar into the mixer and make it snow in the kitchen."
"Fine, fine! You're the winner! Now put down the bag, psycho."
Peter lowered the bag from the mixer but bumped his elbow on one of the cabinet knobs. The bag fell out of his hands.
Everything seemed to go in slow motion for a minute. Lia ran toward the mixer, shouting. "No…!"
Then all heck broke loose.
The kitchen was engulfed in a cloud of white smoke. The two teens were left coughing and covered head to toe in powdered sugar. The kitchen didn't look much better. Every surface was coated in white, from the ceiling to the floor. Lia lunged toward the mixer and shut it off.
Peter blinked a few times. If he wasn't covered in white powder Lia would have been able to see how very pale he was. He spoke quietly. "May is gonna kill me…"
The timer on May's phone went off. Neither Peter nor Lia made any attempt to shut it off. They just looked at each other, fear clearly evident in both of their eyes, before glancing toward the kitchen door.
May opened it. "Alright, let's-"
She stopped short. She took in the sugar-coated kitchen, her eyes roaming around it before they finally landed on the two batter-covered teens. They waited tensely for her to react.
Instead of yelling, like they thought she would, May burst out laughing. She grabbed her phone from the counter and brushed the sugar off of it, shutting off the timer. Peter and Lia just stood there, stock still, gaping at her. She took a few pictures of the pair, still chuckling.
"You guys are still in trouble," she said through her laughter. "You're gonna clean this all up…"
"May? Are you feeling okay?" Peter asked once he'd found his voice again.
"I did the exact same thing when I was your age. My mother came home and saw the kitchen coated in flour… she reacted the same way, too." May took deep breaths, trying to stop laughing. She turned to leave the room. "You two… don't leave… until kitchen… is clean…" she said between bouts of laughter. She shut the door behind her.
Lia was the first to speak. "Okay…"
"That was not how I expected her to react," Peter commented.
"Well, you are kinda funny-looking," she teased.
Peter raised an eyebrow. "Me? I think you're the funny-looking one here."
She went to punch his arm. "Shut up."
He grabbed her arm before she could punch him and pulled, bringing her into his arms. Even when she was covered in gooey cupcake batter and powdered sugar, he still thought she was beautiful.
"Whatcha doin', Spiderboy?" she asked teasingly.
"This," he replied, leaning his head down and pressing his lips to hers.
She sighed happily and wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing him closer to her. A few seconds later, however, she giggled.
Peter pulled back. "What's so funny?" he asked.
"You taste like cake batter," she replied, still giggling.
"So do you," he pointed out.
She pulled his head back down and kissed him again.
"I don't hear much cleaning going on in there!" May called out.
Neither of them paid her any mind. They were too wrapped up in their own little world to care.
"Don't make me come in there!" she shouted.
Peter suddenly registered what his aunt had just said. "We're cleaning, May, we're cleaning!" he shouted.
Lia smiled and wiped the egg yolk off his cheek so she could kiss it. "I'll go grab the broom."
"Okay." Peter was still a bit dazed. He shook his head. "So tell me about this Call the Midwife show you love so much…"