Cake! (Dare/Michael)

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael had been about to say something about the cake Dare pointed out, which he rather liked, especially in comparison to the first, when the woman spoke again. He liked it, the cake itself, that is, what he didn't like was all of the extra...stuff all over it. "It fits better than the last," he said, but his eyes moved back up to the one Dare had pointed out. "I like that one."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare nodded. "Only smaller," he added. "A lot smaller." The woman agreed heartily and stood, leaving the album on the table as she went to the display to look at the information for the cake. Dare pulled the book toward himself as unobtrusively as he could, leafing through. He wondered if people just asked for that many bizarre-looking cakes, and if the others were any better. He paused on a softly lit photograph and nudged Michael again.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael looked away from the woman and down at the page Dare had found. His lips curved softly. "I really like that one," he said. It was small and simple and would fit in with everything easily. He could see them using it even more than the one Dare had found. Perhaps, if the other was smaller, though....but no, Michael's eyes felt drawn to the one on the page instead.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"It's the leaves, I think," Dare said softly. The cake was so simple, but the details made it elegant and interesting. And the leaves reminded him of the ones he'd tucked into the scrapbook at home. "Look, it says buttercream frosting." He lifted his eyes to find Michael's and tilted his head slightly in question. Well? Is this one it? He liked it more than the one on display, and couldn't think of anything that would be better.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael's smile widened and he nodded. Finally, it was something concrete instead of just vague plans on a piece of paper. Even though they wouldn't be seeing the actual cake for another couple of months, it made everything so much more real. He held Dare's eyes for a few moments more before glancing down at the page again. Then he called the woman over.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Within a couple minutes, the woman was working on an order form with the size and details of the cake, and Dare's chest was swelling again with excitement. One hand slid over to rest against Michael's thigh beneath the table, and he couldn't quite look away from either him or the picture of the cake, so his eyes moved back and forth.

"I'll go get some samples," he heard.

Dare blinked, pulled out of his thoughts. Samples? Of cake? This just got better and better.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael's hand curved a little further around Dare's thigh and he was barely able to wait for the woman to leave the room before he leaned in just a few inches to steal a soft kiss. It wouldn't last long, but it was the only way he could think of to express everything. It was all so amazing and he couldn't think of words to describe any of it, so he settled for the light kiss.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare took the kiss just a bit farther than Michael had probably intended, just a taste, but made himself stop before he'd even heard the woman's footsteps returning. He beamed at Michael, and even the lure of deciding which flavor of cake they were getting barely distracted him. He was surprised to find out that wedding cakes didn't have to be white cake inside, and picked up a small square of chocolate.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael turned his attention to the samples spread out before them, amazed at how many choices they had before them. He didn't even recognize half of the little squares immediately. He did recognize one bright red one and reached for it, all the while looking over the rest to decide which ones to try. Was everything like this? The whole topic of the cake had looked simple from the outside, but apparently there was much more to it than he would have thought.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare didn't think a thing about the number of choices they had, aside from the fact that he got to try as many of these as he wanted. He offered up his half-eaten chocolate for Michael to try and gave a pointed look toward whatever it was that Michael was holding. He couldn't tell what any of these were by looking at them; there were more than one that were shades of brown, white and cream colored ones, and one that looked like carrot cake. Did people really order carrot cake for their weddings?

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael took advantage of the woman's scattered brain, well, that was what he told himself when he leaned in and took the bite from Dare's fingers. He grinned and held up his own piece for Dare. He imagined that the woman wasn't looking, though he couldn't imagine that she would particularly mind. She was probably used to much more obvious displays than anything they could do.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare didn't think about the possible display at all. He wasn't trying to lick Michael's fingers or anything, so as far as he was concerned, it didn't count. His mind had turned forward, though. He wondered how much he could get away with at their reception.

"I really like that," Dare said after he'd swallowed. It was like chocolate, only richer. And as close to Gryffindor red as he thought a cake could get. "That'd be kind of funny after all the green everywhere else."

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael smiled and nodded, "Well if they made a green velvet cake, then I'm sure we could use that," he joked. He certainly had never seen or heard of such a thing, though he knew there were green cakes. He wouldn't mind using the red velvet himself, but then his eyes lit on the rest of the samples. It would be a waste not to try the others, wouldn't it?

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare was thinking the same thing, in regards to the other samples. He couldn't imagine the woman could pass them on to the next customers, so he picked out a piece of fluffy white that turned out to be angel food. "I wouldn't do green cake," Dare said around a bite. "I mean, there's having green be our color, then there's selling my soul to Slytherin," he teased. He caught himself a moment too late, but the woman, if she'd even been paying attention, didn't seem to have found anything odd in the statement.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael's eyes flickered to the woman in a second of panic but she wasn't doing much other than filling out a couple of forms. He brought his eyes back to Dare and his eyes sparkled. He was selling his soul to a Slytherin, wasn't he? He didn't reply and instead turned his attention to another, darker square on the table.