A/N: Literati fluff. One-shot. Takes place at some point after season 7. (Let's pretend the revival never happens, okay?)

Not Just Cake

'We are so going to hell for this.' Rory says, shaking her head.

'So. Worth. It.' Jess replies, his mouth full.

'We're despicable.'

He nods solemnly. 'Decadent.'

'How can we be so shameless?' Rory leans against the counter dramatically.

'Are you gonna eat that?' He quirks an eyebrow, his fork already reaching into her plate.

'I think you have something on your forehead.' She pretends to reach over to touch his forehead, but instead presses her forefinger against it, pushing him back, away from her plate. 'Nope, it's just the mark of the devil.'

He makes a face. 'It is so like you to only start complaining after your seventh plate.'

Rory's mouth drops into a tiny 'o'. 'At least I have a conscience.'

'Well, your conscience is making you miss out on this strawberry chocolate piece of heaven.'

She rolls her eyes, but stabs her fork into the soft creamy cake on his plate. Just as he said, it tastes heavenly. She closes her eyes, as a small noise escapes her throat.

And of course, when she opens her eyes, he's smirking. 'Where'd that Rory-conscience go?'

'Momentarily in a sugar coma.' She deadpans, as she reaches for another forkful. The strawberries are fresh and the chocolate cream filling is rich and nutty. 'Ah, this is divine.'

'So, how do you like it?' The twenty-something shop owner, a pretty redhead who introduced herself as Miranda, comes up to them.

'It's wonderful. I can't even put into words –' Rory starts gushing.

Jess is nodding sympathetically. 'It's okay, babe. You can say it.'

Oh, no. Not again. Rory tries to glare.

He puts his arms around her shoulders, rubbing them gently and giving her a very exaggerated puppy-eyed look. 'The cake is great… but, well, it's just that her mother – my future mother-in-law – is so allergic to strawberries. She can never have this cake. But we don't want to be a bother…' He trails off, looking apologetic.

Rory almost rolls her eyes. How can anyone fall for that? Not ten minutes ago, Jess claimed his mother was allergic to the cherries in the vanilla cherry cake. Miranda would have to notice the absurdity of the lie. This time, they'd get kicked out for sure.

'Oh, no. I had no idea!' Miranda sighs sympathetically.

'We just want it to be perfect, you know?' Jess very nearly bats his lashes.

'Of course, the cake is the most important part of a wedding.' She nods along with Jess, falling completely for his boyish charm. It's likely Miranda has a small crush on him and he has no problem exploiting it. She stares at him for a moment too long, then clears her throat. 'Have you tried our Napoleon cake? It's one of our very best.'

'I don't believe we have, have we, pumpkin?' He kisses Rory's cheek.

This time, Rory has to hide her head in his shoulder to keep from laughing out loud.

'It might be just the thing for you. I'll be right back.' Miranda smiles cheerfully.

When she disappears into the kitchen, Jess shakes his head wistfully. 'That Miranda is a godsend.'

Rory lifts her head. She can barely hold the laughter. 'Pumpkin?'

'See the lengths I'll go to just to get you free cake?' He squeezes her shoulder.

'My hero.' Rory replies dryly.

'I know. Now remind me, Hayley, have we tried that chocolate cake over there?' He nods towards the far end of the counter. His hands are rubbing up and down her arms distractedly, leaving a trail of goosebumps.

'We did. Three times actually, Brian.' She says pointedly.

He narrows his eyes and whispers conspiratorially. 'I thought it was Ryan.'

'No, their names were Brian and Kayley.' Her voice drops.

'Not Ryan and Hayley?'

'You don't even remember the names of the poor couple whose cake tasting we hijacked?' Rory whispers furiously.

'I might remember after a fourth slice of that chocolate cake.' He cocks his head in the direction of the counter.

'Gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins, you know.'

'Are you telling me your bottomless pit of a stomach is somehow full?' He looks at her in exaggerated shock and she rolls her eyes. Chuckling, he goes on. 'Yeah, didn't think so. Give me your plate. I'll get you a slice too.'

'And a slice of the coffee cake too, please.' She adds. He shakes his head in amusement and leans in to kiss her, his lips tasting like sugar and strawberries.

She watches him carefully cut two slices of chocolate cake and two of coffee cake and deposit them carefully on each of their plates.

They both lean against the counter, busy with their plates. The shop is quiet that afternoon and she starts to notice the grand floral arrangements in the corner, the array of weddings cards displayed in the glass display by the window, the tables covered with pretty white lacy tablecloths. Everything around them is wedding-themed. The only normal item is the coffee machine behind the counter, which has a sign reading Free Coffee and is what had drawn them to the shop in the first place.

She glances at Jess and wonders what he's thinking. His hand pinches her shoulder playfully. He's in a good mood today and he breaks the silence easily. 'I think there should be a wedding rule that weddings should only have chocolate cake.'

'All weddings? Only chocolate cake?' She quirked an eyebrow.

He hummed in agreement. 'None of that cinnamon-orange nonsense. And lemon zest? Are people out of their minds?'

'I thought you were opposed to the whole wedding industry.' Rory says, hating the bitterness that crept into her voice.

Jess doesn't notice and replies, as light as ever. 'I'm opposed to wedding parties. I'm not opposed to wedding cake. Especially chocolate cake.' He points with his fork.

'A man of principles.' She remarks.

'That is me.' He replies with his familiar sarcasm.

'Still, you can't have wedding cake without a wedding.' She argues insistently.

'Maybe Brian and Hayley can't –'

'Kayley.' Rory corrects.

'—But we, on the other hand… We can do whatever we want.'

She shakes her head slowly. 'Jess –'

'I like cheating the system.'

'If you want wedding cake, you can't be opposed to wedding parties.'

He sighs in exasperation. 'It's just cake, Rory. Can't we just enjoy having cake?'

'It's not just cake. It's wedding cake.'

'So?'

'So, it's wedding cake.' Rory insists.

'Yes, it is and it's delicious.' Jess takes another large bite for good measure.

'People who plan on having a wedding have wedding cake.' Rory says pointedly.

'We'd have to be getting married first to do that.' He laughs.

She put her plate down on the counter, but tries to keep her voice calm. 'Don't joke around.'

'I never joke when it comes to chocolate cake.'

'Jess –'

Just then, Miranda walks in with a large smile and a white cake, fully decorated with tiny sugar pearls of silver and gold. 'I just added the frosting. Enjoy!'

Jess is sliding a piece of the new cake onto his plate when he notices Rory is no longer by his side. He hears the chimes on the door behind him ring as the door opens and slams shut.

He finds her sitting on the curb by the shop, her hands folded on her knees. His first thought is that she looks like a gorgeous painting. Her flowy yellow summer dress compliments her cream skin, the freckles on her shoulder are highlighted by the warm sun and her hair looks as soft and silky as ever. Like so many times before, he stops for a moment to appreciate how beautiful his girlfriend is, before finally taking a seat next to her.

'Are we in a fight?' He asks in confusion.

'Nope, I just needed some air.' She rubs her arm, staring at the line of shops across the street from them, at the people flowing in and out.

'All the cake, huh?' He asked again.

'Yeah.'

'Funny, I thought the Gilmore way of life would've trained you for occasions like this.'

A dry laugh. 'Guess not.'

'Sure you don't want a piece?' He points to the cake on his plate.

She doesn't look at him. 'No.'

He pauses, trying to read her face. Sometimes the subtleties of Rory's mood escape his understanding, even after three years together. He waits for her to talk while eating the cake absently.

'Are you serious?' She snaps when he's halfway through his piece of cake.

'What?'

'You're just gonna sit there and eat?'

'I got you a piece too.' He says defensively, showing her the untouched piece on his plate. 'And by the way, this is definitely a close second after the chocolate cake.'

She closes her eyes, then says. 'Are you trying to hurt me?'

'Rory.' He admonishes softly, putting down his fork. He's not sure how he managed to upset her so much.

'Three years, Jess. We've been together for three years. You can't tell me you're not at least thinking about it.'

'Thinking about what?' He asks.

'You know what.' She gapes at him.

'I can't read your mind.'

'You can't just go and do something like this and expect me not to see it as a sign!'

He furrows his brows. 'I'm not following. What sign?'

'You took me to try wedding cake, you idiot!' She throws her hands in frustration.

Oh. His mind races to justify the situation. 'Hey, we went in for coffee, remember? And then she – Miranda – just happened to think we were a couple who showed up a bit early for a cake tasting. None of this was planned.'

She doesn't respond and instead dropped her head into the crook of her elbow.

'Rory.' He nudges her arm with his chin and presses a few kisses to the freckles on her shoulder, but she still doesn't look up.

He tries again. 'I'll apologize and pay for the whole thing if you want. Do you want me to go in and tell her we're not Brian and Kelsey?'

'Kayley.' She corrects again, her voice muffled by her elbow.

'I mean, I'm pretty sure it's already paid for, but I could pay again if it'll make you happy.'

'Sure.' Her muffled reply says.

When she doesn't elaborate, he says. 'Maybe… Maybe it's better we don't talk here. Let's just wait till we get home.'

She lifts her head to give him a sharp look. 'Yeah, fine, let's just ignore this.'

'Rory, come on.'

'What? This is what you want, isn't it?' She gives him a hard stare.

He recognizes that stare. 'Huh. So I'm guessing this is one of those times where I have to insist we 'talk about it', right?'

'You don't have to do anything, Jess.' She says quietly. 'Let's just go, okay?'

He knows her well enough to know that is the last thing she wants. He says softly. 'I thought you didn't want to get married. You said that to me.'

She runs her hands through her hair in exasperation. 'When did I ever say that?'

'Well, you turned down that dick when he proposed.'

Rory blinks. 'You mean Logan?'

'What? More than one dick from Yale proposed to you?' He teases.

'It was a long time ago. I was 21. I wasn't ready to get married back then.' Rory defends.

'Back then?' He echoes in surprise. 'So now you're…?'

Her blue eyes stare at him cautiously. 'I'm just saying we should think about it. Not right now, I mean not in the very near future, but not in the too far future either. We should have some kind of plan.'

'Why am I hearing about this now for the first time?' His shirt suddenly feels sticky against his back.

'Because you mock every wedding on TV. I mean, we watched Mama Mia two days ago and –'

'Hey, the wedding in Mama Mia was ridiculous and you made fun too.'

She ignores him. 'You roll your eyes whenever we get invited to any weddings and you mostly don't go anyway. You mocked every second of mom and Luke's wedding –'

'To be fair, I was mocking the Stars Hollow part of the wedding.'

'Which was everything about it.'

'Luke didn't mind. And neither did you, at the time.'

'That's not the point! The point is that you hate weddings. You roll your eyes at married couples –'

'I grew up with Liz, so that kind of skews one's idea of married couples.'

'— You don't exactly make it easy to talk about this. I mean, of course, you'd be totally against marriage.'

He stares at her, knowing his response to this would be important, which only makes it harder for him to speak. He tries to contradict, but the right words don't materialize.

She pauses to read his face and upon seeing the blank stare, forces herself to retreat. 'You know what, I shouldn't have even brought it up. I don't even know what brought this on. All the sugar's just messing with my mind, I guess.'

He looks away, willing himself to say something, as his eyes search the street around them.

Suddenly, he gets up. 'Wait here.' He says before walking away.

Rory blinks. She sometimes wonders whether Jess really changed all that much since they were teenagers, or whether some habits are so deeply instilled in people. Sure, adult-Jess is less angry, less impulsive, less likely to pick fights. His job at the publishing house, as well as his writing career, are going well and he's generally responsible. They trust each other and most of the time, their relationship feels like what an adult relationship should be. When they got back together, a year after the Obama campaign, they promised each other to communicate better, to really talk about things. But it proved to be, for both of them, easier said than done. And much like he did now, Jess sometimes walked out when they fought, but during the past three years, she learned that he always came back. He promised her he's always come back. So she sighs and she waits.

After what seems like a long time, but is actually only about ten minutes, Jess returns to her side, taking a seat on the curb next to her. He seems anxious and a little fidgety and Rory wonders if she should expect the worst.

'Okay, so… I'm not exactly sure how to do this.' He tells her with a nervous smile. 'Just bear with me.' He clears his throat. 'I didn't think I'd be doing this on a random sidewalk in Philly, but... Oh, here.' He pulls out a plastic wrapper from his pocket and quickly peels the plastic.

Rory has to laugh. She looks at him questioningly. 'Is that what I think it is?'

'Hey, don't mock. You brought this on yourself by dating an emotionally-stunted dropout.' He holds up the ring pop, the ring-shaped lollipop that catches the light like a diamond.

She shakes her head. 'You're not an emot—'

He interrupted her. 'Yeah, yeah. I know what you'll say. Just let me do this, okay?' He opens his mouth to continue, but then, seems to reconsider. 'Ah shit, I bought different colors, I was gonna let you choose.' He takes out three more candy wrappers and looks at her sheepishly.

'The cherry's my favorite actually. Good choice. Go on.' She smiles, feeling a little silly too.

He frowns. 'I also just realized the ring part should come after the talking, right? Fuck, I'm doing this all wrong.'

'Jess!' She laughs.

'Okay, okay.' He exhales softly. 'You'd think being a writer would make this easier. Finding the right words or saying the right thing.' He sighs. Rory has a small smile on her face and somehow staring at her makes his tongue a little looser. 'I don't usually think ahead, not the way you do with all the planning… but whenever I think about the future, I always see us together. In my head, it's like it doesn't work… my life doesn't work if you're not in it. And while I will probably keep mocking weddings, that doesn't change how I feel about you. I love you, Rory. I've known from the moment you moved to Philly that I want this – us – to be permanent. I want us to be together and to stay together and I mean that in the most serious way possible, I'm not doing this to end whatever fight we just had. So…'

He takes her hand gently and twirls the toy ring between his thumb and forefinger. He takes in her wide eyes, the way they are getting a little watery, her soft smile and feels his heart do a little squeeze.

He goes on carefully. 'Rory, will you, at some point in the not-so-near-but-also-not-so-far future, marry me?'

'Yes.' She whispers. When he slides the oversized ring on her finger, the heavy moment is broken by their laughter.

A few tears escape her eyes and his fingers instinctively come up to brush them away. His hands linger on her cheeks and as soon as their eyes make contact, they are kissing. It's almost as simple as breathing, the way their lips dance, how her hands wrap around his neck and his hands cup her face. Since they're still sitting down, they can't get their bodies quite as close as they'd like, but that only makes their kiss hungrier. Somehow, their kiss takes them back down memory lane, back to their very first kiss against a gas pump. As kids, they knew it felt right, though they couldn't quite anticipate how strong their connection would grow, how solid, how real, how permanent it would become.

When they break for breath, Rory dips her head down, staring at the engagement ring in fascination.

Jess explains. 'Just so you know, I am planning on getting you a real ring at some point.'

'See? You're not so emotionally stunted after all.' She coaxes.

When he rolls his eyes, she continues gushing. 'My mom is gonna be so jealous when I show her this. I'm wearing this to work. I have to show it off.'

'You're wearing this when you're on live news on national television?'

She nods seriously. 'Yes. Yes, I am.'

'Oh, jeez.' He runs a hand through his hair, messing it up as usual.

'This is the best piece of jewelry ever. It's a ring and a dessert. It's perfect.' She coos.

He remembers that his plate is still sitting by their side. 'Speaking of dessert, I did get you a piece of that cake if you still wanna taste.'

She laughs, grabbing the plate happily. 'Do you have any idea how much I love you right now?'

He hides his head into her shoulder, chuckling lightly.

She goes on, her smile wide. 'Wedding cake proposals should definitely be a thing.'

He smiles back effortlessly. 'I wholeheartedly agree.'

The end.

A/N: Writing this was fun. If you enjoyed it, please leave a review or some feedback for me! :)