It was not even December yet. It was the end of November, barely past Thanksgiving. He had no excuse.
And yet.
Stone hummed to himself as he set down the grocery bag on the lab's kitchen counter at the beginning of his workday. Well, at the beginning of his workday at the lab anyway; obviously the work related grocery shopping had been on the clock too. He pulled out baking soda, molasses, eggs, butter, and spices and set them aside to wait until he had put away the everyday foodstuff for the week that he had originally gone to the store for. After that he rooted through the non-perishables cupboard for flour, sugar, potato starch, and oil.
His humming took on a more Christmas-y theme as he put on a black apron with Doctor Robotnik's personal logo on it and pulled forth bowls, spoons, a measuring cup, and a sturdy stand mixer. He smiled at the mixer, still as giddy as ever about getting to pick a really good quality one after requesting items for the lab's kitchen from the doctor.
"Kitchen appliances? We get lunch from the cafeteria and you leave before dinner, why on earth would the lab need kitchen appliances?"
"I want to bake and cook here. Are you saying no to fresh, homemade cinnamon twist buns, doctor?"
"...You'll be the one explaining this to the apes micromanaging our receipts. Order whatever you feel you need, and let me work in peace."
It was a while ago now, and true to his word he had baked buns, cookies, tarts, muffins, and the likes occasionally to make the doctor's stressful work days a little more bearable. And he regularly cooked and portioned actual meals for the doctor to eat after Stone himself had clocked out – Robotnik worked ten to twelve hour days, while Stone worked a healthier eight – which Robotnik grumbled and complained about loudly, but ate regardless. The amount of take out boxes and energy bar wrappers in the lab's trash had diminished by a massive amount, and Stone felt very smug about it every once in a while.
Right then though? He whipped the sugar and eggs with the really nice stand mixer the government had paid for, with a timer set for five minutes. While waiting, he carefully combined the dry ingredients in a separate bowl to get the spices mixed evenly. He melted the butter, mixed it with oil, and once the five minutes were done added that in with a side of molasses.
He poured in the dry ingredients and finalized the mixture, then took a self-indulgent moment to detach the wire whip and lick the still somewhat drippy, spicy dough off it. He hummed appreciatively and gave himself a mental pat on the back – simply delicious, and it was only going to get better with time.
He covered the bowl with a plastic wrap and popped it in the fridge, then cleaned up the light mess his baking had left behind.
He prepped the espresso machine for the doctor's latte later, and left the kitchen to get started with his actual work for the day. The doctor's emails that had accumulated over the weekend needed managing and the newly cropped up meetings didn't dodge themselves.
ooooo
When Stone returned to the kitchen five minutes to eleven to make Robotnik's first coffee of the day, he was surprised to find the doctor in there, staring at the bowl in the fridge. Upon hearing Stone's footsteps, the doctor turned around to look at him instead.
"What are you making?" he asked, pointing an ungloved hand at the bowl. Ah, it must be a chemistry day then. That explained his presence in the kitchen – one does not simply bring foods or drinks into the chemistry lab and contaminate the chemicals, so the doctor actually left his workstation to enjoy his coffees elsewhere on those days. Instead of his control gloves, the doctor wore chemical resistant gloves while working there, and took them off – along with the lab coat, the mask, and the protective glasses – when he exited the chem lab for any reason. Hence, no gloves.
"Gingerbreads. The dough will have to sit in the fridge for two-ish days to deepen the flavour and set first, though, so they'll be actually baked on Wednesday", Stone explained, starting the espresso machine.
Robotnik made a displeased sound, turned to stare at the bowl again, and then took it out of the fridge. Stone felt his heart stop for a beat, thinking that the doctor perhaps didn't like gingerbreads and was going to throw away the dough, but instead the bowl was set on the table and Robotnik fetched a spoon from the drawer.
That was definitely a lot better, but counter-productive to the baking process.
"Doctor-"
"Hush! This is what you get, making me wait two-ish days for the results", Robotnik said, sat down, ripped off the plastic wrap, and scooped up a heaping spoonful of the dough. "Focus on steaming the milk, Stone, I don't want a cold latte."
Shit! Stone quickly grabbed the goat's milk from the fridge and got right to steaming it, all the while being aware of the doctor giving a pleased hum upon taking his first taste of the dough. The sound may or may not have made Stone's breath hitch, just a little.
It was very nice to know the flavour of the dough got Robotnik's stamp of approval, he had to admit. However, he also knew that gingerbread dough was practically a drug in the sense that once you got a taste, it was very difficult to resist eating more and more. Stone had had regrets on a nearly early basis since childhood.
"Doctor, I do hope you'll know better than to eat too much of that", Stone said once he had the milk situation under control. He carefully poured it over the espresso, forming an easy and well practiced heart pattern on the top. "Your entire digestive system will hate you if you overindulge."
He heard a scoff from Robotnik's direction. "Do you take me for an imbecile? I have a PhD in chemistry, I know how simple components like bicarbonate and sucrose work within the body."
Stone took that as a 'shut up and let me eat as much of this dough as I damn well please' and served him the latte without further comments, hiding a fond smile.
He made himself a simple americano and sat down opposite the doctor with a more socially acceptable, neutral smile. He stirred his drink idly and watched as Robotnik scooped up another spoonful of dough and licked it off the spoon in fractions between sips of coffee. The doctor seemed to be truly savoring the taste, each lick deserving a thorough swirling in his mouth before swallowing, and his eyelids even slipped closed in pure enjoyment a couple of times.
Stone had to be honest with himself: screw baking the gingerbreads, he could watch Robotnik lick the spoon all day, this was the true perfect use for the dough.
Stone sipped his own coffee and ignored the way his neutral smile morphed right back into the fond one he had tried to smother.
Before he knew it, the fifteen minute break had passed and Stone had spent probably ten of them lovingly watching as his boss ate gingerbread dough like it was the world's greatest delicacy. The spell broke when Robotnik's phone buzzed and released a gentle alarm tune that snapped Stone's spine straight and his mind back into something resembling professionalism. Robotnik reached into his pocket, turned off the alarm, and knocked back the rest of his latte while standing up.
"Make another batch of the dough for the baking, this one will not survive to see Wednesday", Robotnik said, dipped his spoon in the bowl one more time, stuffed it in his mouth and pulled it out without the dough load, and finally dropped it on the table. He whirled around in his usual efficient manner and exited the kitchen, mouth working on the last treat while he walked.
If Robotnik ate all of the dough in that manner, Stone didn't think he'd survive to see Wednesday either. He did make another batch of the dough once he managed to stop staring at the spoon the doctor left behind, just in case he did.