we claim nothing but the plot

Cupcakes For A Father

happy birthday rayi's daddy!

"Have you decided what kind of cupcakes you want to make?" Karma questioned for the third time as he stuffed two packs of Hershey dark chocolate into the shopping basket.

Gakushuu hummed in response, not giving a proper answer for the third time as well. His eyes had been staring at his phone screen ever since they left the school building about an hour ago. Thumb kept scrolling down the endless pictures of cupcakes, occasionally switching the app from tumblr to pinterest and otherwise.

Tongue clicked and eyes rolled, annoyed but he didn't bother. Turning on his heel, Karma continued to sift through the rack, hunting for another sweets he could use. Secretly did he swear if it wasn't for a brand new Uncharted 4 CD, he wouldn't go to trouble helping the blond making a godforsaken cupcakes for his abnormal father's birthday whom Karma himself hated so much that he ever wished the old man's death would've been a national holiday someday.

The offer sure was mouthwatering. Uncharted 4 costed at least 8,000 yen and he was rather on a budget this month. Besides, cooking was a skill he'd mastered by default, thanks to his traveling parents who probably had forgotten they owned a house and a child back in Japan. He practically topped the home economic class and Gakushuu seemed to acknowledge that. It was the reason why he appointed the redhead to cooperate with him.

"Have you decided what kind of cupcake?" The fourth time Karma pumped was when they'd reached the cash register.

Finally Gakushuu nodded, handing over his phone to show what he'd got. "Can we make it without so many decorating?"

"Isn't cupcake all about decorating?" Karma curled up a corner of his lips, creating a playful smirk. "Shouldn't we make it remarkably fancy with pink frosting and galaxy glitter?"

The blond snorted. "Just hurry up, goddammit. We didn't have much time."

"Personally I'd like to use frosting though." Karma shrugged his shoulders, turning his head to the invoice. Since when groceries became this expensive? He passed the paper to the other guy. "Anyhoo, you're paying."

This 'baking cupcakes for a birthday surprise' thing took place at the Asano's house, located in the nearest suburb just three depots from Kunugigaoka station. The project had to be completed maximum at nine o'clock tonight, which was the time Gakushuu's father, Gakuho would return from work.

Considering the short amount of time and ingredients, cupcakes appeared to be the best choice. They were simply a baked compound of sugar, flour, milk, butter, and eggs. Although baking was something Karma himself infrequently did, if it's just cupcakes he certainly would be able to manage in some ways. This 8,000 yen worth of task would be money for jam, that's what he'd thought before he discovered that Gakushuu didn't know shit about baking.

"I don't know what's the different so I added the three of them." Gakushuu said nonchalantly while stirring the dry ingredients mixture with a whisk.

"You may or may not just added baking soda, baking powder, and salt in the same amount, I see." Karma deadpanned, staring down at the jug. They actually didn't need baking soda, but it shouldn't have mattered much.

Moving on, Karma told Gakushuu to add butter and eggs. Though the blond bet the eggs by smashing them onto the countertop, at least he succeeded obtaining the yolk just fine, therefore no complain was voiced. While Gakushuu was whisking the compound, Karma broke the chocolate bar and placed them into a heatproof bowl. He positioned the bowl over a pan of simmering water and allowed blocks to melt.

"Don't forget to pour milk while on it, Asano-kun." Karma reminded which Gakushuu replied with a soft murmur. The redhead couldn't look away to see how his rival was doing since he was afraid the paste would burn, but that guy must've been doing well.

As expected, cupcakes weren't so hard to handle. The next steps were just combining the compound with the melted chocolate, spooning the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full, and baked them in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. What left now was decorating and they had bought instant whipping cream. It would take merely fifteen minutes and all will be done.

"Well, that was a piece of cake." A satisfied smile made its way on Gakushuu's lips.

Karma lifted an eyebrow. "Is that supposed to be a pun?"

The blond let out a breathy laugh. "Let's wait upstairs."

It was half past seven when they went to Gakushuu's bedroom. Karma immediately jumped onto the bed. He protested when there wasn't any entertainment around and started to play cellphone games on his own while Gakushuu busying himself with student council things.

Confidentially did the redhead steal a glance at Gakushuu's back. He couldn't help but wonder about the purpose behind this sudden sweet action Gakushuu intended to perform. Apparently the Asanos relationship was never in harmony. It was always the third world war until not so long ago when the whole Korosensei incident concluded.

Perhaps Gakushuu himself ought to fix his family. Or maybe he wanted to cheer up his father after his relinquishment from the board chairman position. Karma truly wanted to know, on contrary never did he ask. Neither of them broke the hush and silence.

Unfortunately, peace wasn't meant to last.

Karma narrowed his eyes sharp. "It's just me or you too heard a kind of explosion just now?"

Gakushuu turned from his desk, jaw tight and eyes wide. "Wasn't that from your game?"

The air in that minimalist room suddenly tensed up. Cold tickled the back of their neck. Another stares, even more hush before the two teens rushed out of the room and raced down the staircase just to find the kitchen filled up with thick layer of gray smoke. Black patches tinted the island in various spots. Fire was burning the counter.

"HOLY SHIT DID THE OVEN JUST BLOW UP?!" It might be the first time Karma heard Gakushuu's scream.

The redhead grabbed him by the arms. "Did you put something inside the mixture while I was melting the chocolate?"

"I tasted the compound and thought it was somewhat mild," Gakushuu said in one breath. "So I added in vinegar."

"DIDN'T YOU ALSO ADD BAKING SODA BEFORE?!"

Afterwards, everything was a series of flashes. Red fire. Opaque smokes. More scream. Yells. Police? No police. Fire extinguisher. Foam. White. Bucket of water. Chill. Burnt oven. Burnt cupcakes. Absence of sound. Vacant stares.

". . . What now?" Gakushuu's voice was a soft whisper between his gasps.

Karma inhaled to calm himself down, head shifted to the refrigerator. "Thank God I bought every ingredient twice times the recipe."

"We're restarting all over?"

Karma rolled his eyes. "Well, duh. You didn't pay me 8,000 yen for shit."

"But the oven just exploded how do we bake?"

"All we need-" Karma halted mid-sentence as he pulled out a plastic bag full of ingredients out of the fridge. His gaze darted to Gakushuu's violet eyes. "-Is WikiHow."

WikiHow was indeed a contemptible website, nevertheless it's usable in some cases. There was an article about making an ovenless cupcake with yogurt and microwave. The steps were identical to those necessary for traditional cupcakes, the only change being the fact that they cooked them in the microwave.

"WE'RE LACKING CHICKEN EGGS!"

"CAN WE DUCK EGGS?!"

"STIR IT FASTER ASANO-KUN! WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME!"

"CRAP I BROKE THE WHISK!"

"USE CHOPSTICKS, WE ARE JAPANESE!"

"REDUCE THE FIRE, AKABANE! THE CHOCOLATE IS BURNING!"

"DON'T USE METAL MOLD, IDIOT! THE MICROWAVE WILL EXPLODE AS WELL!"

Fifteen minutes in the microwave, the cupcakes dough was well cooked and rose. The final outcome was little less sponge than oven-bake, notwithstanding it was just as splendid. There was only less than half an hour before the time hit nine o'clock. They had to do the decorating in speed.

"Heck, Akabane! Stop snatching the strawberries."

"Spray the whipping cream once every cupcake, Asano-kun, make them shaped like a shit."

"BLOODY HEL- DID YOU JUST SPRINKLE WEED ATOP THE CUPCAKES?!"

"CALM YOUR HORSES, MORON! IT'S OREGANO!"

On that day, both of them learned that baking was technically an actual battle. If you don't know that, it's either you're born a professional or never bake before. Karma was still amateur in baking and Gakushuu couldn't crack an egg correctly. Ultimately, the decorating could be finished on time.

"It's. . . done," Gakushuu's speech was more a question than a statement.

"It's done." Karma repeated, inclining his head in approval.

"Gosh, there's no time to clean up. The board prin- Father will come back in no time." The blond grabbed the tray. "Let's meet him at the front door."

"Wait, me too?" Karma knitted his brow into a frown.

"We're making this together. I'm not taking all the credit," Gakushuu stated as he walked away.

Nine o'clock exact, Gakuho arrived at home. The middle aged man opened the door and found his house had been gulped down by darkness. Tugging off his oxfords, he called out his son, but only silence flung back. A heavy sigh escaped his lungs as he stepped in and clicked on the lights.

"Father."

He almost shrieked in shock as a strawberry blond teenager showed up right before his eyes when the yellow lights had flooded the room. His son, Gakushuu Asano whom was currently a total mess with his wrinkle uniform, dirty apron, cream on his nose, and strand of hair sticking out everywhere.

Gakuho's eyes fell on a tray his son was holding. A tray of six cupcakes. The cupcakes were dark brown in color, virtually black because they almost burnt. They contrasted with the white cream, the velvet strawberries on each top, and a bit sprinkle of green oregano. The outward appearance looked really, really delicious, not lying.

"Um," Gakushuu drooped his head. "Happy forty-second birthday, I guess?"

"I'm so happy you're growing old, ex-board chairman." Karma chaffed behind and Gakushuu immediately snapped a scowl at him.

"You two must have burnt down the kitchen with that look," Gakuho folded his arms in front of his chest. The two teens instantly adverted their gaze somewhere in respond. The man chuckled. "Such a shame if you call yourself Kunugigaoka's top students when you can't handle simple thing like baking, right Akabane-kun and Asano-kun?"

"Oh shut up and take the cupcakes already, old man!" Gakushuu complained.

The Asano senior fixed his gaze at his son's eyes, a pair violet eyes that he inherited hereditary. Gakushuu's facial features started to take shape just like his. He kept growing up rapidly behind his father's back and he became this mature without warning.

Gakuho curled up his lips into a smile. It was he warmest smile they had ever witness. "There's a lot of thing you still need to learn, Gakushuu."

It might seem to be a total failure. However, even a failure could be the beginning of everything new.

ryan's note

I'm not sure if baking soda and vinegar were enough to blow up an oven but don't talk about that. This is the last story before we fly back to Singapore. I'm not sure whether or not we will be able to upload many stories anymore with all those shitty works waiting to be done. But we will try at last!

Please leave us a nice review about this one-shot as well and thank you for all the supports!