"I don't think the rain will stop anytime soon." Ash looked out of the window where heavy rain was falling endlessly, and such dark clouds dominated the sky that it was highly doubtful that the sun would ever return. Ash sighed dramatically while he turned to look at Eiji.
"It's fall, Ash. What did you expect? New York in fall isn't any different. Only the wind in Izumo is much stronger and blows relentlessly. Let's just stay at home."
"That's too bad. I wanted to buy some new books. What are we going to do instead?"
Eiji watched him with some amusement. Ash was terrible at doing nothing. He was too smart and needed something to keep his mind busy. If he had nothing to read, he couldn't sit still and complained that he was bored like a three-year-old. Eiji would never get his photo projects done if Ash was bored and would constantly walk around their apartment, trying to find something to do.
Then, an idea crossed his mind. Something he had planned to do for a long time but had forgotten about, and it would make more sense in fall or winter anyway.
"Can you bake?", Eiji asked him out of the blue. Ash looked at him as if he had just lost his mind, staring at him in surprise.
"What? It's what you do before Christmas when the weather is cold outside. I've always wanted to bake some cookies or something else together with you. It will be fun.", Eiji tried to convince him with smiling eyes.
"As you know, I can cook some simple things. But I've never baked anything before. Why are you asking that now all of a sudden?", Ash asked, removing some blonde strands out of his face. "And it's only fall, not winter. Christmas is still far away.", Ash reminded him. "Isn't it a bit too early for that?"
Eiji crossed his arms and turned away from him, pouting. "You're no fun. There's always time for cookies.", Eiji insisted but couldn't help but feel disappointed. Cooking or baking was much more fun together.
"Fine, then. I'll do them myself. But you won't get any of them.", he added stubbornly before leaving the room. "There's still natto in the fridge for you.", he called out to him.
At lightning-fast speed, Ash followed him and grabbed his wrist to stop him, then put his arm around his shoulders. "Come on, Eiji, don't be mad." Eiji turned away, feigning to be offended. He wouldn't give in this easily. Ash had to try harder than that.
Ash let's go of his shoulder and turned his face towards him, giving him his most brilliant smile. That smile that made his eyes light up like emeralds and that Eiji couldn't resist. When Eiji finally looked at him and couldn't hide his smile, Ash grinned like the Cheshire Cat, knowing perfectly well he had won.
"Let's make a deal. If you make some avocado shrimp salad tonight, I'll bake some cookies with you. If you teach me how to do it, that is."
"Really?", Eiji beamed at him while he flung his arms around him, pulling him close.
"Ok, I promise. This will be so much fun!"
"We'll see...", Ash replied skeptically before following him into the kitchen.
"What about making some chocolate chip cookies? I always wanted to make some myself."
"Fine with me. What do we need for that?", he asked him.
Eiji looked up a recipe on his smartphone. "Let's see... We need white and brown sugar, softened butter, large eggs, vanilla extract, baking soda, hot water, salt, flour and chocolate chips.
Ash rummaged through their shelves and put everything on the kitchen counter while Eiji took the rest out of the fridge.
"Fine, you can start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F. Then we need a bowl that is huge enough for all the ingredients."
Ash placed a large bowl on the counter next to the prepared ingredients after switching on the oven.
"Okay, measure 1 cup of white sugar, brown sugar and butter, then put it into the bowl.", Eiji instructed. "I'll do the next step."
"Why?", Ash frowned at him. "You don't trust my cooking skills?"
"No, I don't.", Eiji stated honestly. "I think your cooking skills have improved immensely.", Eiji said proudly while standing on tiptoes, looking over his shoulder.
"But I'm not so sure about your baking skills. I've never seen them, after all."
Meanwhile, Ash had put the sugar, brown sugar and the butter into the bowl and had creamed them together until they were smooth. Ash turned around and smirked at him, giving him a sidelong glance.
"Is the result to your satisfaction, Chef de Cuisine Okumura?, Ash asked, referring to the title of the head chef of a kitchen, a smug look on his face but enjoying himself.
"Not bad for a Sous-chef, Mister Callenreese.", Eiji countered, referring to the title of a second chef, working under the Chef de Cuisine.
"But this was only the first step. Let's see if you can crack an egg without destroying it. Let's take another bowl for that.", he suggested, taking a small bowl out of the shelf while putting the larger one a bit to the right.
"Why do we need an extra bowl for that?", Ash asked curiously.
"If you had done that before, you wouldn't have asked that.", Eiji replied, grinning knowingly at him.
"Ok, I'll show you how it's done. He took an egg, hit it against the edge of the bowl repeatedly but softly until the egg cracked. Then he slowly opened it at the crack and let it flow into the bowl without any eggshell falling into the bowl as well. Then, he put the egg into the large bowl for the cookies.
"Now, you try it.", Eiji encouraged him. "You have to do this with gentle moves. If you use force, the egg will break. The aim is to put the egg into the bowl without any eggshells.", Eiji explained to him.
Ash nodded and tried. But at the first attempt, he used to much force and destroyed the egg. "Fuck, that's harder than it looks. Sorry, Eiji." His eyes darkened as a sad look crossed his face. Ash was used to succeed at everything at the first try. Failing was a new experience for him. Eiji gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
"It's fine. Try again. I think no one ever manages that at their first try."
Ash tried again. Eiji gave him some tips and watched him closely. He loved how hard Ash concentrated. When he did I that, he always got that cute little frown on his forehead, and his eyes dimmed slightly. Eiji secretly loved that expression.
This time, he managed to do it, but a little piece of eggshell fell into the bowl along with the egg. "Shit, there's eggshell in it. Do I have to start from the beginning?"
"No, you can just take this teaspoon and remove the eggshell."
Meanwhile, Eiji had stirred the bowl with the first egg, ensuring the batter was mixed thoroughly.
"Now put the egg into the bowl and stir it while I measure the vanilla extract.
After a moment, Eiji added the two teaspoons vanilla extract. Ash kept stirring while Eiji dissolved the baking soda in hot water and added it along with salt into the bowl while Ash kept stirring the bowl until the batter looked clean without any lumps remaining.
Then they switched sides. When Ash wanted to add the flour, he did so a bit too fast, and a huge cloud of flour blew back into their faces, covering them. After his coughing fit was over, Eiji burst out laughing until tears were filling his eyes.
"You've really never baked anything before. I believe you now.", Eiji smirked before cleaning his face. "Everyone knows you have to add flour slowly for that very reason." Ash was still coughing because he had gotten most of the flour into his face so that he couldn't reply at once.
"You look like a ghost now.", Eiji chuckled while wiping his hair and face with a towel. Ash glared at him, his eyes flaring up dangerously.
"You did that on purpose!"
Still, Eiji saw the amusement in his eyes and how he couldn't hide his smile.
"That's certainly possible.", Eiji admitted, a devilish sparkle in his eyes. "But I couldn't resist. And you were enjoying yourself. I could see it in your eyes."
"Whatever..."
"Okay, let's add the rest of the flour slowly, and then we'll add the chocolate chips. Eiji added the flour this time while Ash did the same with the chocolate chips. Eiji stirred it a last time before the cookies were done. Then, he took a good look at Ash and grinned.
"Ash, how did you get every single ingredient on your face? And your shirt? You look ridiculous. There are even some chocolate chips in your hair.", he said, removing a piece from his blonde hair. You look like a little kid."
Eiji burst out laughing before inspecting him from head to toe. Then, before Ash could react, he quickly pulled his cell phone out of his jeans' pocket and took a photo.
"Wow, that looks great!", Eiji commented with beaming eyes before showing it to Ash.
"Eiji, that's not fair. I look ridiculous.", Ash complained half-heartedly.
"No, I want to hang this in my room. It will brighten my day. I love that picture of you. You look so homey and relaxed. As if you're having fun."
"Thank you, Eiji. Baking with you was really fun. Maybe we can do this another time?", he asked him, a happy sparkle in his eyes. Eiji smiled at him. "Of course."
"But we still have to put the cookies into the oven. "Just use a spoon and put them on here.", signaling to a baking tray. They put spoonfuls onto the tray and closed the oven.
"Now we have to wait for 10 minutes, and they're done."
"You've got chocolate on your face.", Ash remarked. "I bet you've eaten more chocolate chips than there are in the batter." Ash grinned wickedly when he saw a guilty look cross Eiji's face.
"Where?", Eiji asked him honestly. "Can you remove it?"
"I will." Ash's eyes sparkled as he removed some chocolate from his lips and then kissed him.
After they cleaned the kitchen, the cookies were done. They put them into a bowl and let them cool down. When Ash wanted to try one while hot, Eiji slapped his fingers away.
"Don't eat them while they're hot. You'll get a stomach ache. Wait until they're cold.", he said strictly. Ash pouted but did as he was told.
When they had eaten some cookies, they rested on the couch. Eiji sat on the couch, his photo books and stacks of photos next to him while Ash lay next to him, his head resting in Eiji's lap. He was already sleeping soundly. Eiji smiled softly at him while working on his photo project.
'He's really like a little kid. Or a cat.', Eiji thought, grinning while stroking his blonde hair and placing a soft kiss on his forehead. 'Play with him and feed him, and he falls asleep right away.'
The next one will be "First Kiss"