King's Cake

"Look at what I brought!"

Ikhan raised his gaze from the board game. He knew the cheery voice that swept through the living room, and with a big grin, the boy turned to face his hyung. Tao balanced something wrapped in paper on his hands, and Ikhan could recognize the print of an expensive, foreign bakery.

"Whatever it is, I'm having no part in this." Ajussi's protest fell on deaf ears, though. Ikhan assumed that a few months of living in the same house had made Tao react almost instinctively. Before Ajussi even had a chance to turn around, an arm wrapped around his shoulders and kept him in place. At the following annoyed frown, Ikhan and Regis exchanged an amused look, and Ikhan felt a chuckle escape him.

A few minutes later, everybody sat around the kitchen table, Ajussi included. In front of each of them stood a plate, courtesy of the headmaster who slipped out of the room afterwards. The middle of the table was decorated with the cake, a big centerpiece, surrounded by small roll-like pieces. It was plain brown; only a few almond chips covered the skin. Ikhan sat on the edge of his chair. He tried to figure out what made the inconspicuous looking pastry so special to create that excited glow in his hyung's eyes.

"This," Tao indicated to the round brown cake. "This is a King's Cake!"

There was a deafening silence. Tao looked around as if he waited for applause or happy exclamations. Perhaps he only waited for questions to be asked and with those, Ikhan was most eager to help.

"What is a King's Cake?" That earned Ikhan a happy grin.

"It is a custom from Europe, almost exclusively from Switzerland and France. In one of these outer buns, a small figurine is baked.. Each of us chooses one of the rolls, and whoever happens to find the figurine is the king for one day. Or the queen," Tao added, inclining his head towards the three girls sitting on the one side of the dinner table.

Ikhan had never heard of such customs. His gaze wandered over the faces of his friends. None of them seemed to recognize the custom either, but they all had an interested look in their eyes, even Rai leaned forward a bit.

"So, we just have to choose one of the outer pieces?" Ikhan grinned at the eager tone in Shinwoo's voice. His hand even hovered near one of the buns, while he glanced up to Tao.

"That's all, but be careful while eating."

For the next few seconds, everyone reached out for the cake while happily haggling for a certain piece of the cake, or betting on who might earn the prize. Ikhan carefully nibbled on his piece of the sweet and surprisingly soft bun. He kept an eye on the other people around the table, and of course Shinwoo finished his piece first. The pout on his face made it clear that he didn't find the figurine, though. Suddenly, Ikhan felt Regis stiffen next to him.

With a soft click, Regis put something down on his plate, and as he retreated his hand, Ikhan could see a white figurine. It looked distinctly like a human being in a robe but had only minimalistic features.

"Ah! There's our king!" Tao sprung up from his chair and leaned deep over the table in a playful bow.

"Your Majesty." While Tao's voice had been playful, Ajussi's clearly mocked Regis. The older man sat deliberately relaxed on his chair, whereas Regis sat as straight as possible and tried to haughtily glare down at Ajussi.

"You know that you have to listen to me, the king, right?"

Ikhan didn't need to hear Takeo's resigned sigh or to see Ajussi's cold glare; he knew what would come. A well known game by now. The first time those two had shouted at each other in front of them, it had been weird since neither of his friends had know whose side to take. But now, they knew that it was just a habit of them to bicker like old fishwives.

Ikhan felt Shinwoo's gaze on him, and once he had his attention, he point his thumb at Regis. Ikhan nodded. This time, he bet on their young friend, too. He had the advantage of being the king, after all.

"I never wanted to take part in this."

"Oooh, but you did," sing-songed Tao to Ajussi's brusque answer. The grey-haired man crossed his arms in front of his chest like a sulking teenager. Ikhan had to bite his lip to stop the urge to laugh out loud at the annoyed 'you're not helping' kind of look Ajussi gave Tao.

"Going back on your word would be inelegant. So, my first order for you is to fetch me another cup of tea." Seconds trickled away, while both males had locked eyes. A battle of will power, of dominance that made most of the rest roll their eyes.

"I'm going to fetch it," Ikhan said into the stressed silence. As much as Regis liked to get a rile out of Ajussi, there was no need to overdo it. The older man was their friend, too. Before Ikhan had a chance to leave his chair, though, Regis caught the hem of his shirt.

"I don't want you to serve me," Regis said. The glance he threw towards Ajussi at those words told Ikhan everything he needed to know. The older man glared icily at his friend, and Ikhan didn't know who he should feel sorry for. A breathless shout of Regis let his attention snap back to his side. "You don't need to serve me either!"

Ikhan chuckled at the panicked sound in Regis' voice as Rai presented him with a fresh cup of tea.

Dare I got from Vapor ^^

I learned about the custom of the King's Cake as I moved down to Switzerland. I can't tell you the details about the French traditions, but at least in this part of Switzerland, you bake the cake on the day of Epiphany/three Magi/Twelfth Day (or you buy one ^^.) They go with a paper crown you can wear on your head, but that isn't a "have to." If you do it in families, it mostly leads to a child being allowed to eat more sweets, stay up late, and have siblings and parents fetch or do things for it. As we did this custom at our work-place, we only made the co-worker (who found the figurine) wear a golden paper crown, giving her mock bows/curtseys, and calling her "your Majesty" for the rest of the day.