Wow, it's been a while. Oops.

ALSO I made an oops last chapter and forgot to disclaim that the lyrics I used were from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, this killer musical, more precisely the song The Origins of Love. Look up Neil Patrick Harris' version for a really solid four minutes of life.

ALSO ALSO- THANK YOU for 100 reviews!

Disclaimer: No own.


xxi : bake sale

Will came back from the PTA meeting about five minutes after Nico had wrestled Cata and Franca into bed, which meant that Franca was probably already profoundly enthralled in a dream about rabbits or princesses, and that Cata was wide awake and waiting for Will to come say goodnight.

"Hey," Nico said looking up from his laptop. Will's return also meant that Nico was going to be unproductive for the rest of the evening. Will kissed the top of his head.

"Lots of exciting things going on in the world of elementary schools?" Nico asked.

After moving into the house and dropping Cata into a new school for her second year of kindergarten, they had decided to be good parents involved in the school life and volunteering and so on and so on. Will did a lot better at the PTA meetings than Nico did.

"There was a half hour discussion on whether the playground sand should be replaced by mulch."

This was why. Nico had the better schedule to accompany field trips or come to school to supervise paint time or whatever, so it all evened out.

"What are the pros and cons of..?" Nico said. "Nevermind. I bored myself just by asking."

Will laughed and threw his arms around Nico and rested his chin on Nico's head.

"They older kids have a talent show coming up at the end of the year, but the younger classes are all entering as groups with songs and stuff," Will said.

"You should probably already start begging for the night off."

"I will," Will said. He snickered, as he did every time his name came out as a verb. Dweeb. "And there's that bake sale on Friday, during the picnic, to fundraise for the new playground. I said we would bring a batch of something."

"I'll take care of it."

"Thank you."

"What were you going to do, pick up some nasty Walmart cupcakes?" Nico said.

"Don't be rude to Walmart. I have fond memories of eating a twelve-pack of Walmart cookies to myself."

"Drunk?"

"While I was missing you, nerd," Will said.


On Friday, Nico strapped two hyperactive kids and a picnic basket in the car and they drove to the hospital, picked up Will, and drove all the way back to the school.

"We have to bring the cookies to the table," Catalina reminded him.

"Thank you, baby girl," Nico said as he picked up the tupperwares from the trunk.

"Whoa," Will said. "Nico, how much did you bake?"

"A few different things," Nico said.

"There are other parents contributing to the bake sale, you know."

"Okay, smart guy," Nico said. "There weren't exactly bake sales at the Lotus Hotel and Casino. I wanted to make sure I didn't screw up."

Will smiled and kissed Nico- the best kind of kiss, where he also ran his hand through Nico's hair.

"I love how you care so much," Will said. "Cata, you're going to come back here, we're going to need some hands."

They all made their way to the picnic table, although Will had to pick up Franca because she kept running away to catch grasshoppers or watch ants march through the grass.

"Hello Nora," Will said when they got to the table. The mom running the stand, with some fifth graders making change and so on, looked up and beamed at them.

"Hi!" Nora beamed. "Oh, more goodies! Here- Liam- show Cata's dad where he can put that down… They're peanut-free, right?"

"Of course," Nico said. "There's a Post-It on the bottom container with the ingredients, if anyone asks…"

"Aren't you a doll," Nora beamed. "Thank you so much for the…" she peered down at the note. "Sfogliatelle… Italian ricotta-cheese filled multilayered pastry."

Nora looked up curiously.

"Family recipe," Nico shrugged.

"Okay, I was thinking that you could maybe bake cookies or make some brownies, but okay," Will mumbled, looking at Nico amused.

"No, no!" Nora said. "This is great! These we can sell for two dollars each! They're artisanal."

"See Will," Nico said. "They're artisanal. Problem with that? Also there are brownies here. And MnM cookie bars. Lemon bars. And cake-pops."

"Cake pops?"

"I'd made everything else, and then Francesca came home and wanted to help with something," Nico said.

"It's true Daddy," Francesca vouched for him. "I dipped the cake pops in sprinkles."

"No wonder they look so good," Will said. He still had a smile on his face. "Do you need help with anything, Nora?"

"Not at all," she smiled. "Just come back and pick up your Tupperware at the end of the night."


And sure enough, they were all empty.

"I am never letting you live this down," Nico said on the drive home.