I wrote this a while back as a gift for my friend Megan, and I'm just now remembering to put it up on here. :)

Jeff wasn't much of a baker. It's not for not trying, though—there was a period of time where he was really into it, as a matter of fact. He wasn't great at it, but with each inedible cake or batch of cookies, he'd smile apologetically at Nick and inform him that all this meant was that he could only get better from here.

And, to be fair, he did get better. He got so much better, in fact, that he was fairly confident in his baking skills, which still actually left a bit to be desired… if you were being nice, which, as Jeff's boyfriend, Nick was obligated to be. Being the ever-supportive boyfriend that Nick was, he choked down more than his fair share of just this side of black cookies and pies, picking off the bits that were too burnt when Jeff wasn't looking.

Of course, once Jeff admitted that he really was awful, Nick laughed and grabbed Jeff's hands in his, looking in his eyes and saying sincerely, "You're not awful, just everything you bake is."

But the thing was, it was Nick's nineteenth birthday and Jeff really just wanted to do something special for him. Nick's favorite baked good, he knew, was peach pie. And as it happened, Jeff's uncle made a mean peach pie.

When Jeff called up Henry, he had genuinely intended just to ask Henry if he could make a peach pie for Nick's birthday, but once Henry actually picked up the phone, Jeff's mouth had other ideas.

"How's my favorite teddy bear?" was Henry's greeting.

Jeff sighed exaggeratedly, though the nickname didn't actually bother him— Henry had started jokingly started calling him a teddy bear shortly after meeting Nick, who Henry said turned Jeff into an overgrown teddy bear. "Hey," he replied, standing up from his seat on the bed. "I have a favor to ask."

"If it has to do with you guys' bedtime activities, just remember that that is not my area of expertise," Henry said, his voice light.

"Oh, trust me, I don't need any help in that area," Jeff said before remembering himself and the fact that this was his uncle and discussing your sex life with your uncle was just a bit weird.

Henry laughed, his breath crackling across the phone line. "Anyways, this is about Nick's birthday, isn't it?"

Jeff nodded, "It is." Of course it was, and of course Henry knew it was. Jeff had a habit of getting ridiculously psyched up for Nick's birthday, sure that he had gotten the perfect gift, and then convincing himself that it was the worst gift and Nick would refuse to speak to him ever again. Henry usually heard the worst of this process.

"So, what's your present this year?"

Jeff sat down at his desk, fishing around in the drawer for a notebook and a pencil. "Well, we decided that we're not actually allowed to get each other stuff this year," he explained, "so that we can get an apartment together next year."

"Mm," Henry acknowledged. "Dorm life not treating you well?"

"Not horribly," Jeff said, shrugging, "It'll just be really nice to, well, not live in a dorm. And have a bathroom that isn't shared by the entire hall." He almost made an off-color comment, but this was stillhis uncle he was talking to.

"So anyways, what was it that you needed?" Henry asked, and for a second Jeff forgot that he had even called with a specific purpose in mind— he didn't always, after all.

"Okay, so, you know your peach pie? Do you have, like, a recipe for that that you could—"

"Jeff, are you actually going to try to make Nick a pie? Speaking from past experience, that would actually be the opposite of you doing something nice for him on his birthday," Henry teased.

"I just want to do something special for him, Henry. Like, I wanted to get him a gift, but he wouldn't accept it, but he has to take this pie. It's his favorite! And besides, but if I'm extra careful, it can't bethat bad," Jeff argued, pouting.

"If you say so," Henry said, laughter in high voice.

"If it turns out good," Jeff said, "rest assured I won't give you any."

"I'm alright with that risk," Henry laughed. "But anyways, making this pie, if you do it right, is a process, and I want to let you get to that. You got a piece of paper?"

"Indeed I do," he said, flipping the notepad to a clean page. "Fire when ready."

After a trip to the grocery store and a Google search to figure out what even "blanching" was, Jeff set up shop in the kitchen the hallway shared. It wasn't much, but it had an oven, which made it possible for students to actually make real food once in a while.

And, mercifully, there was no one in the kitchen when Jeff got there. He was fairly certain that this was not going to go particularly smoothly. The pie would come out delicious, he was determined to make sure of this, but he wasn't sure that it would be, well, graceful.

He shut the door to the kitchen behind him, turning on his iPod to play through Mumford and Sons' music. Singing along (obnoxiously) loudly to White Blank Page, he set water to boil to blanch the peaches.

Two hours and a couple of cuts on his fingers (cutting peaches was a lot of work and he had just wanted to get it done, which apparently wasn't his best idea), he put the pie in the oven, feeling a bit giddy. He felt pretty good about the pie, really. He had followed Henry's directions and listened to his tips, and he was sure that it was going to just be perfect.

In the middle of the process, he had gotten a text from Nick: History of rock was more interesting in theory. Why did I even go to class on my birthday? Jeff's hands had been messy so he hadn't replied immediately, and another message came in: What are you up to?

He'd washed his hands and replied, Baking for you!

Nick's reply had been short: Oh, Jeff.

Jeff had laughed and rolled his eyes. I swear, it's going to be great!

Now that it was in the oven, he felt even more confident that Nick would love it and he'd be proud of him.

He pulled himself up onto the counter to sit, kicking his feet as he waited for the pie to bake. After a few minutes, he started to smell it and he grinned, imagining Nick's face when he tasted the pie and found out that it was actually good.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out to find a text message from his friend Bennett, who lived next door to Nick and Jeff (they had first met, in fact, with Bennett knocking on their door and politely requesting that they keep it down next time because he "understood passion, but a brother's gotta nap").

Forgot my ID inside, come let me in?

Glancing at the timer on the oven and deciding that he had enough time to run downstairs and let him in, Jeff grabbed his lanyard off the table and left the kitchen, heading for the elevator.

Once he got down to the ground floor, he found Bennett sitting cross-legged on the sidewalk outside, glancing wide-eyed around him. When Jeff swung the door open, Bennett leaped to his feet and pulled Jeff into a hug then stepped them quickly inside. "Thank God you got here when you did!"

"Why?" Jeff asked, frowning.

"There was a fucking huge bee outside," he answered.

Jeff snorted, looking out the window. "I don't see any bee," he said.

"No, Jeff, don't even play," he said. "It was huge. I was terrified."

Jeff laughed, shaking his head. "Next time we go to the bar and I see you talking to a girl, I'll tell her all about the time when you ran off a big, scary bee."

"That's almost nice," Bennett said. "Almost." He sighed, and added, "I wish you and Nick weren't so, like, married. I have so many embarrassing stories but when I try to embarrass you with them, they just make Nick laugh and kiss you all obnoxiously cute."

Jeff laughed. "Can't help that," he said.

Bennett sighed. "Which reminds me, what are you doing for Nick's birthday? 'Cause that's, well, todayand I may or may not have not actually gotten him anything yet."

Jeff blinked, pulling out his phone and checking the time. "Oh, shit," he said, walking towards the elevators and gesturing for Bennett to follow. "Walk and talk, buddy. I'm making Nick a pie, and it should be just about done now."

"Can't you not bake?" he asked, following Jeff onto the elevator.

"I can," Jeff said, pouting as he pushed the button for the eighth floor. "Just not always."

"That doesn't even make sense," Bennett said.

"It totally does," he said, shrugging. "At any rate, this pie is going to be turn out perfectly, and you are going to suck it."

"This scarf doesn't make me gay," Bennett said with a smirk.

"Oh god, not this again," Jeff said, stepping out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened. He walked down the hall and into the kitchen.

He blinked as he was greeted with the sight of one of the Chinese exchange students standing on a chair and waving a frying pan under the fire alarm.

"Huh," he heard Bennett comment from behind him.

Jeff moved over to the oven (which was indeed emitting smoke) and went to pull the pie out before the exchange student ran over. The pie still looked good.

"No, don't!" he yelled, slamming the oven shut again.

"What?"

"Don't pull it out, it will let more smoke out!"

Jeff let out a long breath and explained, "The only thing burning right now is what overflowed from the pie and fell to the bottom. If I leave it in there, not only will I not have a pie, the whole pie would burn."

"Don't let the smoke out!"

Jeff frowned. "I need to get the pie out of the oven," he protested.

"It will make the alarm go off."

Bennett walked up and walked further into the kitchen. Gently setting a hand on the other boy's shoulder, he said, "Do you really want to ruin a guy's birthday? That pie is for someone's birthday."

The boy looked in alarm at the oven, then back at the fire alarm. Switching off the oven and moving back to grab the frying pan once more, he declared, "You need to leave!"

Jeff wasn't sure, really, how that was a logical solution to the problem, but he was feeling, honestly, just a little bit scared of the boy and so grabbed Bennett by the arm and left.

"What just happened?" he asked as they walked back towards their rooms.

"You just got scared of one of the Chinese students," Bennett offered.

Jeff let out a sigh that became a sort of laugh. "When you put it like that, it sounds bad."

"Put it like the truth?" Bennett teased, elbowing Jeff and laughing as he unlocked his door.

"Why are we even friends?"

"You love me," Bennett said, grinning. "Anyways, I ought to go, like, shopping or something."

Jeff nodded, "Damn straight. Better buy my boy something nice."

Bennett disappeared into his bedroom and then stood in Jeff's doorway. "Or I could just buy you guys more lube."

Rolling his eyes, Jeff grabbed his flip-flop off of his foot and throws it at Bennett, who ducked just in time. He kicked the shoe back inside and waved as he shut the door behind him.

Jeff heard his footsteps walking down the hallway, then glanced at his phone. With a sigh, he picked it up and sent a text message to Nick: We have a problem with the pie. It involves a Chinese guy and a frying pan.

Ten minutes later, Nick walked into the room and looked down at Jeff laying on the floor. "I decided that whatever was going on here was probably more interesting and personally relevant than class," he said. "Also I thought you might hurt yourself, or get hurt by a Chinese guy with a frying pan, apparently."

"I think he probably would have if me and Bennett hadn't left," Jeff offered, sitting up.

"So," Nick said, sitting down on the floor facing him, "what happened, exactly?"

"I made you a pie and it was going to be delicious," Jeff offered, "and then one of those Chinese exchange students started swinging a pot around because there were some burny bits— not even the pie or on the pie, it was just the bits that fell to the bottom of the oven." Jeff sighed. "It was literally going to be the perfect pie, I swear, ducky."

He laughed, grabbing Jeff's hand and bringing it up to his lips. "Don't be upset, though, it doesn't look good on you," he said.

Jeff laughed. "It just bothers me, but I mean, I could have rescued the pie if I really wanted to."

"It's a funnier story this way, though," Nick pointed out.

"True," Jeff laughed.

"And you're terrible at baking."

"I can't tell you how mean that was because it's your birthday, but trust me, I would tell you how very hurt I am if it wasn't," Jeff pouted.

"And you're not overdramatic."

"It was Henry's recipes and he gave me tips. Girl, that pie would make you take back everything that you have ever said or thought about anything I have ever baked."

"Oh yeah?"

"Definitely," Jeff said.

"Which is something you can say now because you don't have a pie to give me."

"I swear it was perfect."

Nick grinned, getting to his feet and reaching his hands down to help Jeff up. Pulling his boyfriend to stand, he said, "I'm going to make you put your money where your mouth is."

"What?"

"You're going to make cookies," Nick said. "That is something easy. Just find a recipe, follow it, and show me you can bake."

Jeff sighed. "If it wasn't your birthday, you'd never get away with this," he said.

"I believed you until I remembered that you love impressing me."

Jeff psshed. "Any impressing I do is merely coincidence."

Nick grinned. As he walked down the hall, he sing-songed, "Jeff Sterling is a big fat liar!"

He grabbed his wrist and Nick twirled around to face Jeff. "Yes?"

"I love you, you big dork," he said, kissing Nick's nose.

Nick grinned and pulled Jeff into the elevator.

"…you're not going to say it back?" Jeff pouted.

"Nope!" Nick answered, pushing the button to the ground floor.

"On a scale of one to ten, how mean is it to break up with someone on their birthday?"

"Eleven," Nick said. "Not that you would."

"Nope," Jeff agreed, momentarily leaning his head on Nick's shoulder. "Where are we going, anyways?"

"The store, then Arc," Nick said. "The kitchens in Arc are much nicer, as well as the ladies that live there."

Jeff nodded, not that he'd ever actually seen the kitchens in the all girls dorm.

They got the usual ingredients for chocolate chip cookies and went to the aforementioned dorm (when they arrived, they waited for someone passing by to let them in, which seemed a bit of a gamble, considering the signs hung around campus that told everyone to ask if they lived in the building before letting anyone in, and two boys certainly did not live in Arc).

Thankfully, once they got into the kitchen on the second floor, Nick set about getting things ready to bake.

"You're helping me?" Jeff asked hopefully.

"Of course," Nick said, as if this had never even been a question.

Jeff grinned. "This isn't really a test of my baking skills," he said.

"Nope," Nick answered, pulling the flour out of the bag. Opening it, he added, "It is an excuse to do… this." He grabbed a handful of the flour and tossed it at Jeff.

Jeff yelped, then laughed. "You are going to be in so much shit," he said. "Our faces are going to be on the wall: don't let them in!"

"Only if we don't clean up," Nick said brightly. "And they wouldn't kick a guy out on his birthday."

"Not every day is your birthday," Jeff reminded him, but he smiled anyways, pulling his phone out of his pocket and pulling up the recipe he'd found on the drive over to the grocery store.

"I don't think we're going to need that," Nick said.

"What?" Jeff asked. "It's a recipe, I need recipes, not using a recipe would be a recipe for disaster."

"But I don't need recipes."

"You don't bake, though."

"Oh, I bake."

Jeff blinked. "Wait," he said, "Ducky, are you hiding your hobbies from me?"

Nick laughed, moving to grab a bowl from a cabinet. "Not hiding,. It just never came up." Handing the bowl to Jeff, he said, "Put two sticks of butter in there, would you, baby?"

Jeff frowned at the bowl. "This is craziness," he said. "All this time, I was baking awful things, and you have the recipe for chocolate chip cookies memorized."

"I just wanted you to grow," Nick said.

"You could have helped," Jeff pouted, handing the bowl with the butter in it back to Nick.

"I am now," Nick said cheerfully, putting the bowl into the microwave.

"I hate you," Jeff said.

"Love you too!"

Half an hour later found the boys (and the floor) both covered in various ingredients, including but not limited to flour, sugar, chocolate chips, and even something wet that might have been egg.

"We are a mess," Jeff laughed.

Nick nodded his agreement. "We are. Still, though, cookies," he said, gesturing to the oven, where the first batch was baking. He walked over and kneeled down to look inside the oven.

Sitting on the table, Jeff grinned. "You know, I really couldn't be more lucky."

"Oh?" Nick asked, looking away from the oven to look at Jeff.

"I have the greatest boyfriend ever," Jeff said simply. When Nick didn't reply immediately, he continued, "He has all these great talents and he's great at pretty much everything he tries. He can make a, no doubt, amazing batch of cookies from memory."

Nick smiled, standing up and setting his hands on the table and leaning in close to Jeff. "Actually, I have the best boyfriend. He is terrible at baking but he tries for me to make my birthday special, and he has no idea how to stand up to Chinese foreign exchange students, and he sends me weird text messages that make me leave class just because they remind me of how silly he is and how much I want to see his face."

"Nick…" Jeff said with a smile, unsure of any other words that he could say.

Nick's gaze darted down to Jeff's lips. Leaning forward and kissing him quickly, he said softly against his lips, "You had some sugar on your lips."

"Did I?"

"Mmhmm," Nick affirmed, diving in for another kiss, licking over Jeff's lips.

They kissed until the beep of the oven startled them apart. Nick switched out the cookies, setting the baked ones on the counter. "And now we wait while these cool."

Jeff looked at the cookies, watching them as if they would suddenly cry out that they were ready to be eaten. After a moment, he said, "I don't feel like waiting."

Nick laughed, grabbing a cookie and holding it out for Jeff to eat.

Taking a bite, Jeff held his mouth open, saying around the cookie, "Hot."

Nick laughed. "I told you to wait."

"And you know I'm shit at listening."

Nick set the cookie back onto the tray and took Jeff's face in his hands. "I love you," he said.

"I love you, too," Jeff said.

Nick grinned, kissing Jeff again.

"I didn't even have anything on my lips earlier, did I?" Jeff asked with a smirk.

He laughed. "No, no you did not," he said. "Just mine." To demonstrate, he kissed Jeff again.

Jeff smiled against Nick's lips. "Happy birthday."