As soon as he steps into the apartment he shares with his fiance, Mason is welcomed with the sweet scent of chocolate and fried batter. He can hear the sizzling of something cooking in a pan, quiet jazz music, and Jamie's soft humming.
He sets down his bag, toes off his shoes, and hangs up his coat before stepping into the small kitchen doorway.
Jamie is standing over the stove, pouring batter into a frying pan and a stack of finished pancakes next to him. He looks up at Mason, smiles, then looks back down to the food he's cooking as he says, "Hi, Sweetheart. How was class?"
"Good." He crosses the room and kisses Jamie on the cheek, then looks down at the perfectly cooked pancakes. "Is it Shrove Tuesday already?"
"Yep! Pancakes for dinner, baby!"
Mason laughs and lightly slaps Jamie's ass as he moves away. "I'll set the table."
Five minutes later, they're both seated at the table with a tall stack of pancakes between them. Jamie puts two pancakes on Mason's plate, then his own, and Mason pours syrup over his plate before handing it to Jamie. He starts to dig in, only to pause when he cuts open the pancake to see a melted chocolate filling spilling out.
"Uh, Darling?"
"Do you like it?" Jamie asks, excitedly leaning forward. "I saw the idea online and had to try it."
"How'd you do it?"
"You spoon dollops of Nutella on parchment paper and freeze it, then, when making the pancakes, you pour the batter in the pan, put a Nutella disk on it like you would chocolate chips, then add more batter. That way, it's in the middle of the pancake when you flip it."
"Oh, wow. That's genius." He takes a bite and groans. "Delicious, too."
Jamie does a little happy dance in his chair, then starts eating his own dinner. He gets chocolate on his chin in his enthusiasm, which just makes Mason smile. And lick it off when they're gathering their plates up to put in the dishwasher.
"This came in the mail today," Jamie says when Mason settles in on the couch in their living room. He holds up a medium-sized package and passes it to Mason. "I was hoping it would arrive a couple of days earlier."
"What is it?"
"Do you want to guess?"
Holding it up to his ear, he gives the package a light shake. The contents inside rattle around. "A puzzle?" he guesses.
"Yes, but what kind?"
Mason frowns and shakes the box again, listening closer. It sounds like a bunch of plastic pieces. Plastic puzzles… His face lights up. "Lego?"
Jamie grins. "Bingo!"
Ripping open the packaging, Mason looks to see which Lego set it is and sees a picture of a bouquet of red roses. They're pretty and perfectly adorable.
"These roses will never die," Jamie says, kissing his cheek, "just like my love for you."
"Darling," Mason sighs dreamily. He leans into his fiance, nuzzling into the soft fabric of his sweater. "I love them. Thank you."
"I was planning on making them for Valentine's Day, but they didn't come on time. Which sucked because I wanted you to have flowers."
Mason runs his fingers through Jamie's hair and cups the back of his neck, drawing him closet. He brushes the tip of his nose against Jamie's. "That's okay. We can make them together."
Instead of turning on their TV to find something to watch, Mason pushes the coffee table out of the way and sits on the floor, opening the box of Lego. Jamie sits beside him and starts sorting the pieces by colour. They work together to make the first rose; Mason reads the instructions, Jamie hands him the corresponding pieces, and Mason adds them to the Lego structure. After the first rose is completed, they each set out to make a rose on their own. Mason finishes his first, then moves on to the next one. Slowly, they piece together rose after rose until there are a dozen red Lego roses between them.
"Okay, what's next?" Jamie asks, flipping the page.
"Next? Isn't it just the flowers?"
"No, see?" He points to the instructions, which show the beginning of something else. Reaching across the space in front of them, he grabs the box the Lego came in and tips it, dumping out another bag of red transparent Lego. "It includes the vase."
"Oh, wow. How did I miss that?"
Jamie shrugs and opens the bag.
The vase doesn't take long to assemble, and the transparent blocks make a pretty stained-glass effect against the light. The roses fill the vase perfectly, and Mason sets it on the kitchen table for them to see during every meal. He presses a soft, loving to kiss to Jamie's lips and says, "Thank you. They're perfect, just like you."
Jamie smiles and pulls him in for another kiss.