Coming up on January, the wedding was drawing nearer, but it wasn't precisely close. Edward and Roy still had plenty of time for things like picking out a cake…but Ed was stubborn and had a raging sweet tooth at times, and so (after much pleading and pouting) managed to convince Roy to go cake shopping.

And by the time they had pulled up in front of the bakery's storefront, Edward was just about salivating. Before Roy had even turned the car off, Ed had unbuckled and popped the door open. He was just about to jump out and run inside (and devour everything in sight) when Roy grabbed his arm, holding him back with a good natured smile. "Ed…"

"What?" Edward answered, impatient to start tasting. He hadn't even eaten breakfast, just so he was prepared.

"Under no circumstances—and I mean no circumstances—are you to shove anyone's face into a cake. Got it?"

"That's not fair," Ed pouted. "What if the baker turns out to be a crazy person and he calls in his baker buddies and tries to gang up on us hmm? Or what if he tries to rape you? Or if I end up being surprisingly allergic to something and I can't speak because my cheeks swell up and you aren't paying attention and all I can do is throw cake at you?"

Roy looked at him with a blank expression, blinking. "What are the odds that any of that is actually going to happen?"

Instead of responding, Edward just gazed back desperately. "I really need sugar."

There was another moment of silence, and then Roy released him, laughing so hard he wheezed. "I swear, Ed, you're the only person I know who needs sugar to stop having such weird thoughts."

Freed, Edward bounced up the short path and into the door, surprising the hell out of the woman at the counter. "Sir?" she asked, hesitantly, one hand surreptitiously reaching for the phone.

Ed couldn't help but let out a giggle. She thought he was dangerous, or something. How silly. "Hi, my fiancé called earlier and spoke to the head chef about trying out some wedding cake flavors…?"

"Oh, alright," the woman replied, her expression clearing up. "I'll just go get him, he's actually in the back now getting ready."

"Thanks," Edward called after her, as she disappeared into the back of the store. He hummed, looking at the display case and it's assortment of cupcakes and cookies as Roy walked in. "You're late to the party."

"Have you eaten anything yet?"

"No."

"Then I'm just in time," Roy responded, draping an arm around Ed's shoulders. Edward didn't comment, instead staring intensely at a red velvet cupcake. "What are you thinking?"

Ed sighed his answer. "I'm thinking that red velvet is delicious, but that if the only thing red in the room was the cake, I'd never be able to handle it. Throws the entire color scheme off."

"You're going to extend color coordinating to the food?" Roy asked incredulously.

"No. Just the cake. The food would be too much, and besides, it isn't that important. But the cake is a big deal in a wedding, and I want it to be perfect, inside and out."

"Just like you?"

Smiling lightly, Edward stood on his toes, reaching up to press a kiss to Roy's cheek. "You're getting sappy in your old age," he commented.

"Actually, it's just the wedding. The closer we get to May 16th, the more excited I am." Ed blinked, surprised by the emotion in Roy's voice. "It's like I'm going to get to yell to the whole world that you're mine and no one else can have you, and then we get to celebrate how selfish I'm being."

Laughing softly, Edward just nudged Roy's shoulder with his head, their little moment interrupted only when the chef walked in with a heavily laden tray.

"Ah, young love," he chuckled. "I was there once." The man was old in the extreme, but he had steady hands and a bright, mischievous glint in his eyes. "Come here, come here, we'll sit over at this little table, no one will bother us."

Curious, as Ed followed, he had to ask, "So what happened? As you got older, I mean. To 'young love.'"

The chef sat down, almost falling into his seat as he began to cackle, slapping his knee with his free hand even as he set the tray down. "The old broad turned out to be a real bitch! I divorced her!" Seeing the disappointed look on Edward's face, the man smiled more sincerely, and added, "But that was a long time ago. You know, the divorce rate has gone up, but I can imagine why. When I was your age, you had to propose to someone hardly knowing them! Nowadays you young people can try living together and find out how you do with that, you can fuck all you want and make sure you're getting a good deal—there's no reason people should ever have unhappy marriages now, when they get to experience it before they make it official! Silly boy, don't look so surprised, my point is, my wife seemed nice, but when we moved in together she was messy as could be, and was rather lousy at cock sucking. You got either one of those problems with your fellow?"

Unsure whether to be amused or afraid (and with Roy's silent laughter beside him not helping any), Ed merely shook his head, eyes wide and face flushed.

"Then you've got all you need!" the chef cried out, raising his hands in celebration. "Oh, but you must forgive me—I'm very old, very old, and I forget my manners sometimes. It's hardly right for me to talk about this kind of thing before you even know my name. Call me Jonathan."

"Well, Jonathan," Roy began, tears forming in the corners of his eyes from laughing so hard, "you've already made my day."

"Glad to hear it—no one appreciates an old, grumpy fool like me anymore," Jonathan responded, winking. "Now, down to business—since it doesn't appear you'll be needing to cancel the wedding, how about you get down to tasting my cakes. I've brought out several flavors for you to try: coconut, plain old vanilla, chocolate, almond, lemon, carrot, pumpkin spice, champagne, and red velvet."

Head spinning at the odd character and the long list of flavors, Edward tried to focus. "I think we can cut out pumpkin spice right away—our wedding is May 16th, and that's just such a fall flavor."

As Jonathan nodded, Roy added, "And, sorry to be this way, but my little bride is awfully picky." Ed elbowed him, but Roy just went on. "He wants the inside of the cake to match the color scheme for the entire wedding. We have a star theme, so we're using silver, white, blue, and black…"

Unfazed, Jonathan began pushing flavors aside. "Okay, so, no pumpkin spice, and for color purposes, the chocolate, red velvet, lemon, and carrot have got to go, too. So that leaves you with coconut, champagne, vanilla, and almond."

Eager now, Ed nodded. "Which one is your favorite?" he asked, picking up a fork, ready to dig into whichever cake was pointed out.

"Me? Oh, I'm a big fan of my almond cake, though I do have to warn you, it's an acquired taste."

But Edward had stopped listening after the word "almond," and dug his fork into said cake with gusto, closely followed by Roy. Ha! The man could pretend all he wanted to that he was mature and patient about this, but honestly, he wanted the fluffy goodness just as much as Edward did.

Without further ado, Ed pushed his forkful (which was tottering dangerously) into his mouth. However, instead of the expected joy, he was unimpressed to say the least. The flavor was all wrong on his tongue, and it was all he could do to swallow (something he was usually very good at).

Jonathan laughed at his face. "Roy, you may like it, but this one doesn't seem very happy.

And it was true, Roy was even going in for a second bite, but Ed hoped to never taste that again. "No offense, Jonathan, but…no. Just no."

Both men roared with laughter at that, Roy almost choking on his cake. "No worries, my boy, I told you it was an acquired taste. It would just appear that your fiancé is a bit more cultured that you." At these words, Roy ruffled Edward's hair teasingly. "Why don't you try the coconut next?" Jonathan suggested. "As long as you don't hate coconut in general, you'll like it."

Nodding, Edward nabbed a forkful of the coconut cake, being sure to get some of the whipped filling before placing it in his mouth. Oh, yes. This was better, way better. "I like this one," he mumbled around a half-full mouth. "Especially the middle bit."

With eyebrows raised, Jonathan accepted the praise with a nod, but asked, "Roy, you don't mind his lack of manners, do you?"

Ed glared as his fiancé, in response, grabbed a napkin and dabbed a bit of white from the edge of his mouth. "Oh no," Roy answered with a wicked grin. "He's much more fun messy." Predictably, Edward's cheeks flared up as Jonathan (yet again) burst into laughter.

"Oh, you two are funny, aren't you? That's good, not enough couples have humor nowadays. Now, you want to try something else? Or good with the coconut?"

"The coconut was alright, but not fantastic," Roy mused.

"Let's try the champagne," Ed suggested. "Vanilla is a little too classic, you know? I'd like to do something more exciting if possible."

Nodding in agreement, Roy dug his fork into the cake, pressing it to Edward's lips. Raising his eyebrows but not saying anything, Ed opened his mouth and allowed Roy to feed him the cake. Immediately, it was like fireworks went off in his brain. The cake was light and tasty, with a distinct vanilla taste behind a something more he couldn't quite put his finger on, an almost edible bubbly sort of flavor. "Yes. This is the one."

Roy grabbed another forkful for himself, tasting it, and judging from the way his face lit up, he felt the same way about the champagne cake Edward did. "That's amazing," he breathed. "How did you manage to keep that sparkling sort of texture? I've never had a champagne cake that was so spot on…"

Jonathan only tapped the side of his nose. "Trade secret. So, I take it this is the one you want?"

"Yes!" Roy and Edward agreed in unison, laughing as they realized what they had done.

"Alright, so that settles that…and you said the theme was stars?" Ed nodded. "Well, how about I send you a sketch of my idea for the design, within the next week?"

"Sounds good," Roy decided, standing up as Jonathan did the same and shaking hands with the man. However, instead of shaking Edward's hand, Jonathan patted him on the head.

"You two behave, now, you hear?"

Once out of the shop and back inside the car, Ed felt more than a little off kilter. "You know, he made a really good cake, but…he was a little strange."

Roy just chuckled. "You're one to talk."