Cake decorating!

When Tom had wandered down into the kitchens for a midmorning snack and possibly hot chocolate (he doubted the elves would deny him), he had not expected to see his friend standing near one of the counters, humming as he swirled frosting rather artfully onto a cake. Beside him, several elves were busy running around, holding trays of sweets and looking anxious. Tom could understand; it was the last day of school before winter holiday and many students would be leaving tomorrow, and the elves wanted to give them a good feast before they leave. It didn't explain why Harry was down here, but he did love the creatures more than he loved actual people, so perhaps he wanted to spend time with them before leaving.

"Hi, Tom!" Harry said cheerfully, his hands holding a frosting bag and his face smeared with it as well. It was very cute and Tom fought the urge to lick it off.

"What are you doing?" He asked instead, pushing the thought to the furthest recess of his mind and planning on never thinking why he thought that again.

"I'm helping the elves decorate cookies! Come join!"

"Mister Riddle no has to be doing that." An elf said in a slight panic, looking as though it was going to have a fit. "We elves be fine doing the things ourselves, no needs for help, sir."

"Oh, hush you. Don't make me get Hermione down here." Harry said back and the elf squeaked in fear. "What are you doing here anyway? I thought you were above mingling with the lower class."

"I never said that," Tom said, feeling a bit guilty that several elves looked hurt by that. While he did think of them as lower class, he didn't need them knowing that; they might ban him from the kitchens if they thought he didn't like them. "And I'm here for a snack."

The elves mood seemed to do a one-eighty and they were back to being their cheerful selves, one offering him a plate of fresh cookies while another insisted he have some cocoa to go with it. Tom felt himself smile and quickly took the plate, earning a snort from Harry.

"Come decorate with me," Harry said after Tom had eaten an impressive amount of cookies—he was a teenage boy—and finished his cocoa.

Tom scowled. "I would rather not."

"Aw, scared you'll mess up?" Harry said, a teasing smile on his face. "I understand, decorating takes a skill only few have mastered."

"Give me the bag," Tom demanded, setting his cup down and opening his hand. Harry smirked and handed Tom the frosting bag, sliding one of the frosted but not decorated cakes towards him.

"Don't mess up." Harry sang. "And make it festive. I was going to do a tree and ornaments, but you can do whatever you want."

Tom hummed in acknowledgment, watching out of the corner of his eye as Harry set down on the stool beside him, accepting a glass of hot chocolate from an elf. He took a moment to assess his cake and the ones Harry had already decorated; snowflakes, ornaments, and Christmas trees seemed to be the theme on most, several more plainly decorated, and a few yule log cakes were thrown in for variation. He noted that one holiday was missing and set to work.

He sat down his bag—red would not do for this—and grabbed another bag, gold and shimmering more than frosting should. He set to work, carefully and artfully dragging his frosting around the cake. It wasn't the hardest design to make, menorahs were rather simple, but his own perfectionism made him go slow and carefully, assuring each side was the same length and each flame equal. Once his menorah was completed, he moved to decorate the top and bottom with blue frosting, spinning the cake the same way he had seen many people at the bakery near the orphanage do. Once it was completed, he grabbed a smaller bag and scrawled Happy Chanukah along the sides.

He stepped to the side and presented his cake to Harry, who had just finished his hot chocolate and was gawking. He jumped down from his stool and moved to stand beside Tom, still staring.

"How." It wasn't a question so much as a statement, but Tom still answered.

"I'm just naturally amazing at everything," Tom said, flipping his hair and earning a snort.

"I didn't think you'd do a menorah," Harry said, tilting his head as he admired the work.

"It was the only one missing. You did everything but Chanukah, and I wouldn't want anyone to feel excluded." Tom said, smirking at the look Harry gave him. "What?"

"You're so full of shit it hurts," Harry said, before frowning. "Uh, you got a bit of frosting on your face."

Tom reached his hand up to his cheek, deliberately touching the wrong side and enjoying the frustrated look on Harry's face.

"Here," Harry said, reaching up to Tom's other cheek and gathering up the frosting on his finger. He moved to wipe it on the counter but Tom grabbed his wrist, dragging Harry's finger to his mouth and sucking the frosting from it.

Harry was frozen, his face bright red when Tom finally released his finger and leaned closer, his tongue licking up the frosting on Harry's cheek. Harry turned an even brighter shade of red and sputtered as Tom pulled back, staring into Harry's eyes calmly. Harry opened his mouth several times, seeming at a loss of words before an elf spoke.

"Is Mister Riddle and Mister Potter going to be staying? We has too much work for students to be standing in the middle of kitchens in our way."

"Right!" Harry finally managed to say, ripping his hand from Tom's and turning back to the table, picking up a bag of frosting. "Sorry guys. I'll get right to it. Tom was just leaving."

"Actually, I think I'll stay. It was fun decorating." Tom said, sliding up beside Harry and taking a bag. His face was still red and Tom could feel his own flush creeping up his face, but chose to ignore it.

The frosting fight they got into an hour later ended with them both being kicked from the kitchen, but it was worth it to see the flush on Harry's face when Tom licked up the frosting on his own fingers and offered to do the same for Harry's.