Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

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Day 21: Cooking/baking

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Surprisingly, Taichi was the first to wake up on Saturday morning. He and Matt had gone back to the latter's apartment after the festival and Tai had stayed the night.

Said brunet got out of bed, stretching lightly, before turning around and smiling at the sleeping blond. He tucked his boyfriend in, kissing him lightly on the forehead and then left the room to answer nature's call.

Once out of the bathroom, he walked into the living room, noting that Hiroaki was in the kitchen, reading the paper and drinking coffee.

"Morning."

Hiroaki looked up from the morning paper, "Morning, Taichi." He glanced at the coffee maker, "Sorry, thought you two would have more of a lie-in, so I didn't make coffee for either of you."

Tai waved him off, settling onto the couch and turning on the TV, "That's fine. Yama's still sleeping anyway and I might just wait for him to wake up before we eat."

"Fair enough." Hiroaki pushed out his chair and stood up, taking his mug to the sink. "I'm heading off to work now. Be good."

"Of course," Taichi flashed him a grin, "Have a good day and don't work too hard!"

Hiroaki laughed as he exited the apartment.

Tai turned off the TV, seeing as nothing was on; the morning cartoons were too modern for his old-school tastes. The silence in the apartment was broken only when Tai's stomach gave a huge growl. He put a hand to it, deep in thought. Then his face broke out into a grin and he jumped off the couch, rushing into the kitchen.

He started pulling open cupboards and drawers, got out a frying pan, spatula, bowel, and a whisk. He then went over to the fridge and extracted milk, eggs, and butter. He dug around again in the lower cupboards, looking for flour.

"What are you doing?" An amused voice asked from the entrance to the kitchen.

Tai turned around where he had been kneeling, head stuck in a cupboard, "I'm looking for flour. Do you have any? I want to make pancakes." He started to move towards the next cupboard, before realising something and snapping around to stare at the blond figure in the doorway. "You're not supposed to be up yet! I wanted to make you breakfast in bed..." He whined.

Blue eyes widened, before relaxing into a soft, adoring look. He strode over to an overhead cupboard and pulled out a Tupperware container. "That's really thoughtful of you, Taichi, but," he paused, quirking an eyebrow at the brunet, "Do you even know how to make pancakes?"

Tai stood up, scratching the back of his head nervously, "Well, not exactly, but I figured it can't be that hard..." He looked down, "I just wanted to do something nice for you."

Matt's face softened again and he gave his boyfriend a light hug, "Again, thank you, but I would prefer you knowing what you're doing before destroying my kitchen." He then smirked, releasing the brunet. "How about I teach you how to make pancakes and then you can surprise me some other time?"

Tai's head snapped up, eyes bright and wide. "Yes! I want to learn!"

Yamato laughed, "That's a first. Our teachers would have heart attacks if they ever heard you say something like that."

"Hey!" Tai punched the other lightly on the arm, before turning to the counter, "So first we mix everything together, right?"

Matt had walked over to the hooks attached to the fridge, picking off two aprons. "First, we protect our clothes." He threw a red apron to Tai and donned a light blue one himself.

Tai frowned a bit, looping his head through the garment, "Isn't getting dirty half the fun?"

The other boy just laughed and helped Tai tie his apron, before lifting his own over his head. That is, until Tai stopped him with a devilish smirk, "Feel like cooking in the nude?" He wiggled his eyebrows, causing Matt to laugh again. Tai took the apron from his boyfriend and looked at him expectantly, "Go on, strip."

"Only if you do, too."

Tai looked taken aback, "What? No way!"

Matt crossed his arms over his chest, "Then I'm not either."

A puppy-dog pout appeared on Tai's face, "Please, Yama? Just this once? I promise to behave and listen to what you say and," He smirked, "not make a mess."

The blond's arms fell to his sides and he looked torn, biting his lip, whilst watching Taichi move a hand slowly towards the eggs. "Fine!"

Brown eyes flew to the blond, a victorious look on his face. He placed the apron into the outstretched hand and watched as Matt left the kitchen. He smirked, feeling like a cat that just got the cream.

Yamato came back a minute later, clad in nothing, but the blue apron.

"Ready to start, then?" He asked, trying to cover up his embarrassment. Tai nodded enthusiastically and Matt smiled, going to the bowl on the counter. He proceeded to explain the process and ratio of ingredients, letting Tai in on his secret tweaks – the ones that made Yamato Ishida's pancakes the fluffiest and tastiest ones in the entire world (at least in Tai's opinion).

True to his word, Tai had been a good student, listening and learning the various tricks of the trade, and, most importantly in Matt's opinion, not making a mess.