A/N: For the previous chapter two weeks ago, I've been reading comments about confused Bakers as to where the Baked series takes place >_< so I'm just going to drop an Author's Note from chapter 30 of Baked Love right here:

I get a lot of comments that ask—where is this story taking place?

And to be honest—I believe that Baked Love has many mixed cultures from all across the world.

I don't specifically state where it takes place, because I want every single one of you Bakers to feel connected to it, no matter where you are. :)

And also, I do think that it really doesn't matter where Baked Love takes place—just like it doesn't matter where or when Love comes.

When it comes, it just comes.

And there's no stopping it.

_______________________________

The cab was warmer than expected—with heated seats and a kind driver who recommended popular restaurants near their destination.

The journey was a quiet one; with old music filling the silence as the cab moved steadily towards the hotel that was about an hour away.

Here, where they were safe from the eyes of the world—Xander took his fiancé's hand in his, stroking the back of it in a gentle manner. Chip lowered his gaze to look at their interlocked fingers, smiling in content.

He glanced at Xander—a brief second or so underneath shy lashes, as if to ask whether it was okay—whether the world was going to curse them for such a deed. But he received an assuring smile in return, and it came with a gentle squeeze of his fingers.

Chip closed his eyes; losing the world as he did, and felt the beat of his heart grow stronger.

Fingers brushed against the back of his hand once more, and that was all he felt.

He felt warm—

In his fingers, his hands; the places where they connected as he leaned into his fiancé—

Oh, and his heart.

His heart was the warmest of them all.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

[Chip]

"Good afternoon, how may I help you?" Said the hotel staff behind the counter that we were approaching, a professional smile on her face.

Tugging my small luggage along, I joined Xander who was a step ahead, listening intently as he spoke to the lady.

"Yes, good afternoon. We're here to check in."

"Sure! May I have your particulars please?"

I have to admit—there was a bubbling spark in my tummy. After all, it had been some time since I've been to a hotel.

A-And not to mention, the fact that Xander and I were sharing one room—

Oh for heaven's sake Chip, you share a bed with him every day. Get a G R I P, my mind sighed exasperatedly at the thing beating fast in my chest.

But! It's a hotel. It's different!

I vaguely heard a voice commenting about how hopeless I was, but half of my concentration was on Xander and the nice lady behind the counter.

He had passed a couple of written details over; including our passports and a credit card, and she was keying them into a desktop.

"Alright, you'll be taking the twin room then, I assume?" She said without looking away from the screen, keeping her smile whilst doing so.

Xander blinked.

I didn't know how to respond; since my knowledge about hotel rooms were vastly limited.

"No, actually. We'd prefer the double room," He corrected with a polite smile. "Thank you."

The female staff member did a double take, and her smile became a little awkward. "Oh. Is that so? I...oh dear, I've already assigned a twin room—I'm so sorry. It was rude of me to assume..."

Xander didn't look too happy. He asked if she could cancel the operation, but it was a skeptical tone that he used. Perhaps he already knew the answer, since he had been working in this line for some time.

The lady apologized and went off to look for her manager to settle the matter, leaving us at the counter.

"What's wrong?" I asked quietly, tugging at his sleeve.

"She gave us two single beds instead of one double," My fiancé sighed. "I don't remember hotels teaching their staff to jump to conclusions."

"Oh..." Was really all I could come up with.

I'm not disappointed...am I? Ah, I don't really know what I'm feeling right now.

"Maybe we should act more like a couple," Xander teased with a smirk, lightening the mood as he prodded my cheek.

I pouted. "The last time we tried that, we caused others unnecessary trouble."

"Angel, I need you in my arms at night. Is that too much to ask for?" Xander didn't even bother lowering his voice and I swear my face felt as if it was on fire.

"W-Wha—that's! Xan...you could have...you could have! Said it a little...more subtly or something..." I stumbled over my words.

He laughed small, tidying my fringe for me. "But you look so cute when you blush."

"Anyway, I don't think we're going to get our desired room unless the staff charges us for the double and voids the previous transaction. I saw that she already keyed it into the credit...it's always a trouble when someone assigns the rooms wrongly or a guest makes a last minute change," Xander said—probably recalling his previous expertise.

I waved away the gloomy air, poking my fiancé's abs.

"It's going to be fine. There's nothing wrong with sleeping apart anyway...we're still going to be in the same room!" I pointed out cheerily. "If you want, we can...u-um, watch TV and cuddle before bed...?"

Xander laughed once more, leaning a little closer.

I blinked, thinking that he was going to kiss my forehead so I leaned a little closer—

"Um, excuse me," I jumped, taking a step back in less than a second. "This is our manager on duty, Miss Li..."

Miss Li came forward with a smile and the lady from before stopped midsentence; a guilty look on her face.

"We're so sorry—allow me to apologize on behalf of my colleague here. I was informed that she made a mistake of assigning you a twin room instead of a double?"

My fiancé nodded, glancing at me sideways.

"If you insist, we can still assign you a double room—though it might take a while because we have to void the transaction and—"

"No worries," Xander sighed, looking at me once more and I nodded in encouragement. He smiled in defeat. "I understand that it's a tedious process. We're fine with a twin room...no trouble."

Miss Li and her fellow colleague looked gratefully relieved (not to mention pleased). "Again, we are terribly sorry for the mistake. Will you be inclined to receive a bottle of exclusive red wine as a token of our apology? Of course, we will send it up to your room in no time."

Xander turned to me with a smirk, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes and smile all the same.

"Sure. We will appreciate that."

Uwa—who knows what he's up to now.

"Great. We will be sure to have that arranged," Miss Li grinned, sliding two key cards packed in a glossy, palm-sized folder. "The Wi-Fi passwords for the lobby and your room are provided inside the folder. Please contact the front desk if you have any queries or problems and we will do our best to assist you."

Miss Li and her colleague smiled wide as we took the key cards. "Would you like to go up to your room now? Or would lunch be a better option? We could have a bellboy bring up your luggage—"

"Oh! No it's okay, we can bring them to the room by ourselves," I refused politely, thanking her with a slight bow of my head. Xander nodded in thanks too, checking the number of our room before making his way to the lift lobby.

I followed, waving shyly to the two ladies at the counter in effort to bid them goodbye.

It might have been my imagination—or perhaps a trick of the light—but I was sure I saw Miss Li wink suggestively before I passed behind the pillar, and by the time I looked back again, she was talking to her colleague.

What happened?

W-Was there something on my face...?

Maybe she was winking at Xander and not me. Or could it have been both of us...?

"I think she's into gay porn," I jumped when Xander spoke beside my ear, losing my cool. Welp, not like I had one in the first place anyway.

"W-What?" I glanced anxiously around, afraid that someone might have heard the p-word. Yes, the p-word. "Xan! That's...you—you can't jump to conclusions about other people..."

My fiancé shrugged as we waited for the elevator to arrive. "There's nothing wrong with being into same-sex porn, I know a lot of people are. Blake used to push onto me those DVDs with two hot women going at it."

I felt my heart sink. Just a little. "Um...I-I guess. They, um. They look very attractive, don't they?"

Xander turned to me with yet another casual shrug. "Yeah but all I can think of while watching porn is how we'd look like doing it only to realize that porn is as cheesy as hell. Not to mention a little low-class sometimes, I mean look at the way they direct it—"

I didn't need to look in a mirror to know that my face was close to burning. All of a sudden, I felt really warm in my layers of clothing.

"Angel? You okay?"

The elevator dinged, indicating its arrival before the automated doors swished open.

I hurried inside and—not waiting for Xander to join me—spammed the button for closing doors.

"Angel? What—" He was laughing.

"Hey wait—"

I saw his smile; a sincere, honest smile that came with pleasant laughter just before the doors closed shut.

Then I buried my face in my hands, completely and utterly embarrassed.

How could he say all that so easily!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

So much for trying to be cool and mischievous for once—I had forgotten that the keycards were with Xander. Clever me...ugh.

At present, I stood outside the door to our hotel room, waiting for my doom. Xander was probably laughing in the elevator at my silliness and planning how he'd drop a tease or two about how it was a decent effort.

I paused, listening.

Speak of the devil...

Soon enough, I heard familiar footsteps down the corridor—and the devil himself came into view.

O-Oh no, not that smirk—

"Looks like someone needs punishment."

I shuffled away from the door, looking anywhere but him. "I-I don't know what you're talking about—anyway! It's not my fault...you—you started it..."

"What did I do now?" My fiancé raised a brow, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe whilst subtly showing the keycard between his fingers.

"O...Open the door," I demanded, trying to change the subject firmly but it came out more like an incoherent string of stupid mumbles.

"Not until you tell me what I did," Xander's smirk was sly and I knew he wasn't gonna give in that easily, b-but!

"W-Well! You. You talked about the p-word."

"And...?"

"It made me really embarrassed."

Xander paused.

"You were embarrassed?"

I nodded, glad that he finally understood.

"Because I talked—very casually—about porn."

I hesitated. Then nodded again.

"And also, casually dropped my fantasies of you in the conversation."

I felt my ears grow hot.

"U-Um. Do you mind opening the door now—"

"You know Angel, if that made you embarrassed then I guess I should give you a heads up on what's to come for the rest of your life—and I can assure you that I can make you even more embarrassed."

"In bed—" He added with yet another nonchalant smirk before I hurried to cover his mouth.

"X-Xander Jaxon!" I said with a glare that wasn't really effective because I was sure of the heat dusting my cheeks at the same time. "We're in public! W-What if our neighbors hear us? We'll be staying here for five days—I'm not going to be able to survive if anyone hears that!"

The taller frame laughed, leaning down to drop a kiss on my forehead.

"Yes Angel."

He slid the keycard into the slot in a swift movement, and the door unlocked with a sharp click. I made my way inside, slipping off my shoes near the entrance and using the disposable pair of slippers they had provided instead.

Xander left our luggage beside the wardrobe after closing the door, while I checked out the thing that concerned me the most—fluffy pillows!

Aw...

They weren't very fluffy.

I felt a strong pair of arms wrap themselves around my waist—almost startling me out of my skin. "W-Wha!"

"No complaints, right? It's just the two of us."

I pouted, folding my arms. "Maybe. But that doesn't mean we're having it your way."

"Really?" Xander smirked. "I was about to dish out twice the punishment since you said my full name just now."

I blinked. "O-Oh. Sorry, were—were you upset about that?"

"Mm...not really," He nuzzled into my neck. "I just prefer Xan."

"I could always call you 'the evil perpetrator of...um, darkness'?"

"No," My fiancé deadpanned.

"The—um, the evil bubble of destruction?"

"I don't think bubbles and destruction come together."

"How about the evil—"

"No."

"The dark—"

"No."

"The dark knight—"

"The dark knight arises?"

I nodded excitedly.

"No."

My shoulders fell.

"Xan is such a typical nickname..."

"But I like it. Oh but Xander sounds nicer in bed so you could do away with nicks when we're—" I punched his shoulder.

"Go to your bed!" I ordered, deliberately lying spread-eagled on the bed and chasing Xander away so that he'd have to sit on the other single bed instead.

He sighed. "I really don't like sleeping apart."

"What are you, a seven-year-old?" I poked his cheek with a smile, and Xander's hand came up to take mine.

"Yes. Yes I am—a seven-year-old who needs his Angel on a cold winter night."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

[Xander]

We spent the entire afternoon watching videos of cute puppies and kittens on my notebook—under Chip's hard-to-resist insistence. He clicked on video after video in the recommended section, occasionally pausing to look at me with bright sparkly eyes that literally blinded.

I couldn't concentrate on the admin work I was supposed to be doing, since it involved submitting a request to sign in as a P.E teacher instead of remaining as a simple coach. And when I say request, it's actually an entire proposal.

It didn't take long before I caved in. My angel's distracting legs moved up and down on the bed beside mine as he laid on his stomach watching a video of kittens...meowing. He buried his face into the pillow, squealing in the silliest yet most adorable manner before resuming his act of watching cat videos on YouTube.

In the first place, why did YouTube have so many videos of kittens and puppies? I mean—look at what he's watching now: "Cute cat falling asleep"?? Who'd want to watch that?

Apparently, I had said that out loud; because the next thing I knew, Chip turned to me with an irresistible glare. "Well! I'm sorry we have different tastes in YouTube videos."

I gathered my papers into a pile and chucked them aside, sitting on the edge of my fiancé's bed instead. "Oh come on Angel. You know I didn't mean it like that..."

He crossed his arms with a pout, turning away in false anger.

"Alright I'll watch one," At this, Chip turned to me with a pair of tempting wide eyes that lit up in mirth. "And see whether it's worth the time."

My angel nodded enthusiastically, jumping up and moving over to share the bed. He patted the space beside and I shifted to fill it so that both of us could see the screen.

"Okayokayokay here, this one—"

"Kitten meets hedgehog...?" I raised a brow, glancing at him sideways.

"Yes! Shush now..."

"Woah. That's a tiny little animal."

"You're just big."

"What are they doing?"

"Interacting!"

"...it's actually cute."

"See?" Chip gushed, snuggling beside me. "I knew you'd like it! Up for another one?"

I shrugged, not particularly minding. It wasn't every day that I got to spend an entire afternoon with my angel. There's no rest day for Chip at the bakery—and volley training didn't end particularly early either.

"How about this one?"

"Sure."

"This one next?"

"Hm...I'd click the one below that."

"Uwaa—they're. So. C-cute," Chip squeezed the pillow in his arms, and I laughed.

Guess he would never notice how adorable he could be.

.

Dinner came round unexpectedly fast, so my fiancé and I decided to call for room service just for tonight.

Naturally, Chip was thrilled. He had picked up the menu on the writing desk fifteen minutes ago and was still browsing through it—bright eyes scanning the details of each and every dish.

In all honesty, there weren't many options in the first place; but it was refreshing to see someone so hyped up about room service.

"What are you going to get, Xan?" My angel glanced up curiously as I wrapped my arms round his waist from behind. Eyes darting to the menu in his hands, I made a quick decision.

"Fish and chips."

Chip pouted. "For real? But you can get those from Mr. Rob's chip truck back home...um, why not try something that you won't usually get?"

Ah well.

So much for hints.

"Fine, then I'll have the filet mignon. You?"

"Hmm...a club sandwich," He replied with a sheepish smile and I poked his cheek.

"What? A club sandwich for dinner? No way—you're not getting that," I reached for the menu, speeding through the options. "There's baked scallops with broccoli and carrots. I thought you liked those."

My angel fidgeted in my arms. "Well. It's expensive."

"It's room service, Angel. Only for tonight—don't let the price bother you."

"B-But."

"No buts; unless you want to be punished," I raised a brow, eyes darkening.

Chip caved.

"A-Alright..."

"I Love you, so I want you to love yourself too, okay?"

He blushed, hiding his face in my chest.

"Meanie," He said, voice muffled. I laughed, picking up the phone and pressing the button for the front desk.

"Good evening. I'm calling from room..."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Uwa," Chip's eyes widened when the attendant rolled in a three-tier push cart laden with food and a bottle of wine. "It's so...fancy. They even have those dome-shaped plate covers!"

I almost face-palmed.

"Yes, Sir. I think most hotel restaurants do. It is rather fancy," The attendant laughed and replied in a cool English accent. Chip smiled sheepishly in embarrassment, retreating to a corner.

I gave the platters a quick check before asking about the red wine.

"It's Blossom Sir. Miss Li said that it'd be perfect for you and your companion," He smiled politely at Chip, who was staring curiously at the bottle in an ice bucket.

"Thanks. That's a good choice there—would you help me convey my gratitude to Miss Li?"

"Sure thing Sir," He nodded. "Enjoy your dinner. The front desk will be ready whenever you wish for us to pick up your trays."

I smiled, and Chip thanked him once more before he left behind closed doors.

"It...it smells so good," My fiancé tottered towards the push cart, lifting the plate covers on the second tier just to get a peek at the daily dessert surprise.

He gasped softly, making a face that reminded me of his usual text replied: '!!!'

My angel turned to me, eyes brimming with quiet happiness.

"It's crème brûlée!" He whispered, as if telling me a secret—and I laughed.

"You can have mine if you want."

Chip looked genuinely shocked, as if I had agreed to give him a million dollars. "W-What? No way! You...you can't do that. Anyway, I don't have enough space for two desserts and a main course—the scallops look so good."

I removed the bottle of wine from the ice bucket and checked the alcohol content.

Hm. Five percent...that's kinda low for me but I'm not too sure about Chip—I mean, he got drunk on freaking chocolates before.

"Angel—you think you can handle a five percent wine? Blossom has really fruity stuff so I think you'll like the taste but I don't want you feeling real bad tomorrow morning."

My angel glanced over for a second before lifting the cover of my main dish. "Um...I'm not sure what five percent is like, but I think it sounds low enough—uwa...your meat looks really good too..."

Woah. Now that's a surprise—guess I'll just pour a fifth of his glass and see how it goes from there.

I popped open the bottle and Chip jumped up with a start, completely caught off guard.

"That scared me," He said after calming down, helping me set the table outside on the balcony. The two wooden chairs weren't much, but at least we could sit while having dinner.

Chip started on his scallops while I tried the first sip of red. Hm. Blossom's isn't too bad, actually. Might get it next time. Though I'll probably have to save up more...maybe in a month or two—

"Xan, how is it? How's the wine?"

"It's good," I pushed his glass towards him. "Try it. It's sweeter than the ones I've tried before."

My fiancé tried it, blinking before smiling awkwardly. "I-Is it...? The initial taste is really good but, um, but the aftertaste..."

He made a face, which was quite adorable really.

I laughed, digging into my filet mignon.

It was quiet where we ate; save for the sound of cars driving past on the road floors below. There was faint glow that the city emanated. Sort of endearing, but there were no stars above.

All of a sudden, I wondered what I'd be doing right now if I hadn't met my angel.

Wondered what sort of stupid, purposeless life I'd lead—

"A dull;

Empty one"—

Perhaps?

I stopped eating for a moment, glancing up to just...

Live.

I lived in that moment.

And for all intents and purposes, I was glad that I did.

"Xan, a-are you serious about letting me have your portion of crème brûlée?"

He had asked, in a shy and embarrassed manner.

Realizing something, I mocked the Xander in the past, cursing a little at how stupid and blind he was to disregard the happiness that was just before his eyes.

"Of course, Angel."

In that moment there,

Though our existence seemed so tiny;

So small

In this big, scary thing called a world—

I felt brave.

Because I knew that I was not alone.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N:

OMG did I just write an entire chapter of fluff??? Did you see that—d-did you? *runs away into the abyss* ugh my heart hurts from the fluff. I—eep. Too much fluff isn't good for the heart either, you know.

On an obvious note, happy Valentine's day my Bakers! I hope you're all well and healthy, and don't eat too many chocolates or you're going to get a sore throat ;_: (eat after Vday, everything's gonna be on sale so grab those while you can >:D muahahahaha) be sure to drink lots and lots of water after your eating sweets! Don't want those cavities.

Aand on a rather sad note, I won't be updating BL for another two weeks because I've got this cursed term paper to work on plus I will be concentrating on Flight School (ugh updating every week is really hard uwa) and um, under understandable pressure from o-other readers, Human. ;_; Eep.

Take care, wherever you are!

-Cuppiecake.