despite having a whole bakery, perhaps wriothesley was never fated to be an excellent baker.
warnings: established rs, gn! reader, usage of pet names, wrio being an idiot (affectionate)
wc: 730
a/n: hehehe specially dedicated to @poessiblyfedya !! happy birthday to my favourite big sibling in the entire world <3
reblogs w/ tags & comments highly appreciated <3
“not again…” a loud sigh echoes as the kitchen fills with the acrid scent of burnt sugar and overcooked batter.
wriothesley stares at the cake pan in his oven-mitt hand, at the tragic sight sitting before him. what was meant to be the cake’s golden crust has become utterly scorched, with the cracks running across almost akin to those jagged lines that stretched across the walls of the central laboratory ruins. he cannot help but wrinkle his nose at the bitter note that lingers in the air, and at the burnt patches scattered all over the top that continue to bubble, as though mocking him for yet another failure.
wriothesley sighs in defeat.
the head nurse pokes her head around the doorway. “yes, your grace?”
sigewinne fights to hold back her giggles at the sight of the seemingly infallible duke of the fortress of meropide looking like a kicked puppy in the face of his failed bakes.
“alright, how long do we have?”
they glance at the clock, before looking back at each other in panic. five o’clock. only one hour before you said you’d be back.
“let’s… get to work?”
they work almost in silence, sigewinne doing most of the work while wriothesley mixes the batter vigorously. with her added help, he achieves his best attempt yet — though the cake still carries a slightly charred scent, and its base looks a little too brown, clearly, it isn’t burnt and looks (hopefully) quite edible. well, it’s not as if he’ll have time to bake another one if he wants to get the surprise done in time, so he grabs the piping bag and gets to work.
when he finally squeezes out the last of the icing onto the cake, the sense of relief washing over him is comparable to what one would feel when declared innocent by the oratrice. he steps back to admire his work, and exchanges a high-five with sigewinne just as you walk in with your nose scrunched up.
“why do i smell something burning?”
“never mind that,” wriothesley replies hastily, linking his arm with yours as he steers you toward the kitchen counter. “i made you a lil’ something, come see.”
he finally lets go, and your jaw drops when you see the cake, with the words “happy birthday, [name]!” messily written on the top, hearts scrawled in icing of your favourite colour. a simple cake compared to those you’d find in bakeries all around fontaine, but still beautiful to you nonetheless.
“you… remembered?” your eyes shift between the cake and the very proud wriothesley standing before you.
“of course i did, darling, why would i ever forget?” he smiles, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, “did you not find it odd that clorinde took a sudden day off from work?”
and realisation floods in as you finally figure out why your friend had been acting odd the entire day— avoiding any topic related to wriothesley, almost begging you to stay for “just an hour longer” when you mentioned it was about time you headed back home.
“it was you!” you accuse, almost affronted, “no wonder she wanted to meet up so early today!”
“guilty as charged,” he laughs, pressing a quick kiss to your forehead as an apology. “will my love accept their cake as my apology?”
“only if it’s good.” you huff, helping yourself to a slice. you almost spit it right back out the second it touches your tongue, and while fighting to keep a straight face, you watch in silent horror as wriothesley feeds himself a big spoonful — only for him to start choking as he looks for a glass of water.
“what did you put in it?” you ask when he finally recovers.
“nothing the recipe didn’t state, i don’t know why it came out so… salty…”
realisation slowly dawns on his face, and he turns to rummage through the cabinet.
for the nth time that day, wriothesley sighs. “i think i– or rather, i think sigewinne may have mistaken the salt for sugar, and– well, you know how that ended.”
you laugh, reaching out to pat his back. “that’s alright, it happens to the best of us. now you know to check your ingredients before putting them in, right?”
the kicked puppy expression returns on his face.
“i should’ve asked navia for help.”
© vxnusorbit. do not plagiarise, repost, or feed to ai in part or whole.