My angel stopped in his tracks and instinct told me that he wasn't—at all—at ease.

"That..." His voice faltered, dazed by the lights that were coming from the store and perhaps also by the sign that was flashing a brilliant pink. "It seems like a new place."

I stepped between Chip and the apprehensive bakery, obstructing his view. "We're not stopping for anything, Angel. I'm starving."

The excuse worked itself into his mind that was always so kind and I could see him jump a little from the statement.

"Oh! Of course," he blushed, averting his eyes from the store and continuing ahead with Giselle's hand in his. "I'm sorry. I guess it just...well i-it stands out. A lot. Doesn't it?" He laughed hesitantly, and I was well aware that Chip was not the best liar.

"Not really," I shrugged in return, taking a bite of the warm hot-cross bun.

"R-really?" My angel glanced over his shoulder as if to catch another glimpse of the exotic bakery (with lights that practically blinded). "But it's so pretty. And it has a really nice theme."

I snorted. "Angel Rachel's Cakes for Devils? Sounds weird as fuck." My husband looked at me indignantly and I sighed in defeat. "Just an opinion."

Tugging on Giselle's hand so that we'd move on—and away—from that tacky-looking bakery, I tried to divert his attention to something different. "I heard about the savoury cupcakes from Shea by the way."

"Oh!" He lit up instantly. "Do you like the idea? I was hoping to tell you tonight actually. U-um but..." he looked away, and was suddenly pink. It was a miracle that I could see this under dim lighting provided by mere streetlights but naturally I found that I would have to get used to it since, well, we're most likely not going to be having any sex with the lights on. Not with how shy Chip was.

"But what?" I prompted.

At this, an evening wind swept past and persisted, making out walk uphill a little harder than it should have been but it was the blast that sounded from behind that really caught our attention. Something had fallen.

I turned and my gaze rested on the flashy bakery's chalkboard sign that was standing by the pavement moments ago. The wind had blown it over.

"What?" Giselle pulled on my sleeve.

"It's nothing. The wind knocked a sign over, let's—" Aaand Chip was gone. Naturally, the signboard falling over had nothing to do with me, Giselle, or Chip for the matter and honestly, it wasn't something that I would make an effort to care about specifically.

I mean—it's just a sign. And it didn't even belong to us. Minding our own businesses and assuming that someone else would put it back up would have been a typical train of thought.

For Chip apparently, it was not.

I watched as he went back downhill just to put the sign back into its place, placing it on even ground so that it was less likely to fall since it had been, before, on a pavement that was sloping upwards. He dusted his hands on the back of his pants and looked up to flash a quick smile in our direction.

Really, he...those smiles—how did he do it? Just how were they made of sunshine?

Mindfucked.

"Angel," I laughed when he came back, taking Giselle's other hand before going back to where we were. Going home. "It's just a sign. Let someone else do it."

"But that's exactly it," he reasoned with a pout. "It's just a sign. It wouldn't hurt to put it back up! Right Giselle?" My sister wasn't really listening though, so he had to repeat that and when he did, she nodded vigorously.

"Xandie's mean. Right Xandie?"

"What," I scoffed. "Watch what you say."

"No."

"Angel help me out here."

Giselle turned to him with a shake of her head. "Chocolate Chip you can't! Xandie was mean. Mean people must be punished." I looked at Chip and saw that he was a little embarrassed by the sudden attention that he was receiving.

"And how should mean people be punished Giselle?" He laughed, helping Giselle to adjust the hood of her jacket which was in a weird shape after the wind.

"Bring them to justice," She replied after a while. "Sentence them. No cupcake for three years."

My angel laughed and I could tell he was thinking of how to prompt her after that. "So is Xander forbidden to have cupcakes for three years?"

I smirked, quietly amused.

"No." Giselle replied, and I was a little surprised.

"No sex for three years," she laughed really loud and instantly, Chip took to searching around for people who had overheard her.

"Giselle!" He said, flustered. "Th-that's not! You...where..."

Though thoroughly amused by the current situation, I was debating between scolding Giselle for the spot-on punishment that she apparently sentenced and complimenting her for making Chip blush so cutely.

She didn't seem to notice the latter. Or if she did, she didn't make it obvious. "Are we home yet?"

"We'll turn right at the end of the road and reach in about five," I answered for Chip because he was still busy processing the escalation of events and what just happened. "I'm really starving. What should we do after dinner?"

"Listen to music," Giselle said to the air. "I like music. Can we listen to jazz?"

"Sure. Then Chip can tell us about those new cupcakes. Right Angel?" He looked up and blushed when our gazes met.

"U-um, of course, yes. I—we could. It's peace jazz," He paused. "I mean its peaceful, jazz. Jazz is peaceful." He corrected himself twice and was beet red by the time we arrived home.

I don't think Chip or Giselle herself realized the weight of her statement before; that whether it was having none of that for three years or any number at all, nothing could beat the punishment that I had already received during our five years apart.

Nothing.

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

Berry was curled up beside Giselle, sniffing at the box of chocolates that she had laid out after a dinner of salmon lasagna. I noted that the packaging was far too fancy to be the ones from general stores, and asked where she got it.

"Nowhere," she replied whilst sticking out her tongue. "It's mine, Xandie."

"Did someone give it to you?"

My sister was quiet, feeling for the box and popping another into her mouth.

"Someone gave it to you," I answered for her with a frown. My guesses an as overprotective brother narrowed down to the bakers, since that was the place she had been for quite some time after all. "Did Coco give it to you? Shea?"

Chip entered the living room with a bowl of strawberries and three apples balanced on his arm. He was somehow staring at the latter, as though this would will them not to fall. "Xan—quick, help me take the apples."

I took them. "Where did she get those chocolates from?"

"Oh," my angel snuggled into the seat next to me and leaned closer. "Hansel gave them to her." The bowl of strawberries was offered and I was pleased to see that the leaves were cut. A small thing to notice, but it only served to reveal a hidden effort that often went unseen. I pulled him closer by the waist.

"Hmm...why don't I have any from you?" The tiny tease yielded a response that was never old. Chip's ears turned a shade darker and he tried to distract me by poking my abs.

"We're married!"

"That doesn't mean that I can't have any chocolates from you."

"I-it's not Valentine's!"

I threw a strawberry to Berry and she caught it in mid-air before going back to Giselle's side. "But you love me anyway," was what I thought would embarrass him further, but was pleasantly surprised.

"Th...that's true," my angel smiled quietly, wrapping his arms around my side for a cuddle. "How was your day?"

I told him about the class I was temporarily taking over, how a bunch of kids they were and also of how it reminded me of us back then. It wasn't an unhappy past to bring up—in fact, it seemed almost like a dream, how we could be so carefree back then—rather, it was what happened after that was a little sad.

"Do you remember Mrs. Harry?"

Chip grimaced. "The um, the teacher who put us in detention because she thought I copied Vicky's cake? Yes." He pouted. I pinched his cheeks.

"Well we met in the staffroom today and apparently, she remembers us," I shrugged. "Never really changed, and was even telling me some of her problems."

"Problems?" Chip prompted by looking up from fiddling with the sleeve of my shirt.

I relayed whatever the home economics teacher said that afternoon, and received an empathetic response. "Oh no...I wouldn't want them to cancel classes just because they don't have enough teachers. I mean, home economics was my favourite subject—u-uh, the only subject I was good at, for the matter," my angel added quietly and I understood perfectly well what he meant. Academically, neither of us did well. It was a miracle I pulled through a business course.

"There's nothing I can do about it...the P.E department's lacking coaches as well and they just told me they're upping my pay, so," I shrugged. "Didn't really matter to me. How was your day Angel?" I asked in return.

There was something bothering him, but he didn't seem to want to talk about it. Naturally, it didn't come as a surprise to me that he would hide his worries behind a smile since Chip had always been that sort of person who didn't want to trouble others with his own problems. I let him say what he wanted to, and noticed that the new bakery down the street wasn't raised.

"You want to talk about it?"

He paused, and seemed to know immediately what I was referring to. Then he shook his head. "It's fine. O-oh! I wanted to talk to you about savoury cupcakes," in which turned out to be an experimental plain dough filled with mozzarella cheese, diced mushrooms and bits of ham inside and a hint of sour cream onion dip as the icing.

"Hansel suggested other ingredients, like bacon or using mashed potato as frosting and a tart base instead. I was thinking of a pizza-lasagna flavour...what do you think?"

I was getting hungry at the mere talk of it, and this was exactly what I had intended to say before a call came through, causing us both to turn to the ringing phone by the bowl emptied of strawberries. Our husky stared at the object.

"Hold on," I said to Chip in an apologetic manner but he shook his head.

"It's okay! Oh, Giselle don't eat too much of those," he rushed over to stop my sister from taking her next piece of chocolate while I answered the call.

"Jaxon-Honeycutt speaking."

"Evening Mr. Jaxon this is Laura calling from the administrative office. Do you have a free period tomorrow at eleven o'clock?" I glanced at the time, noting that it was rather late for the admins to be working.

"Should be. The only class I have tomorrow is first period gym for Mr. Ford's class—I'm already filling in for that one."

"Ah, looks like you will be filling in for another then. Will you be alright with it?" No, but it wasn't as if I could decline. "The coach for the class has to fill in for a teacher of a different subject you see. She's just called in sick. I'm not surprised really, she's been unwell for quite some time."

I returned to the couch where Chip and Giselle were sitting around, eating apples and listening to soft jazz.

"Right...are we that short on staff?" I recalled for a moment the struggles we had at the company which mainly included the inability to recruit staff with decent qualifications that met the minimal requirements.

"Well, uh, for certain departments yes. Yours and Mrs. Harry's apparently—she was the one who called in sick," Laura said on the other end. I frowned.

"And you're saying a gym coach is going to take over a home economics class...?"

The admin was silent on the other end before snapping harshly. "Yes, because we have no other choice, Mr. Jaxon. Besides, Mrs. Harry has already added that all he had to do was supervise. The recipes were already given, and all the students had to do was follow them. It is not a difficult task."

Like the critical shit I was, I pointed out the flaw in her statement. "That's just like telling students the rules of a sport and expecting them to play it well. Do you think it works like that Laura?"

"More than that, how are we supposed to ensure a students' safety if we aren't even familiar with the equipment? You can't expect everyone to know when you should turn the heat down to stop a pot from boiling over and possibly burning someone. Not everyone knows which knife to use when chopping or slicing different mediums. The students can hurt themselves if they aren't reminded."

At present, I was sure that my ego was the one doing the talking. After all, I wasn't so nice as to let this admin tell me what was difficult and what was not. That they 'had no other choice' was merely an excuse put next to the safety of students, and I basically wanted to prove her wrong.

Wow, I am still a mean fuck.

"Ha, then what would you suggest I do, Mr. Jaxon? Cancel the class?" I was about to agree when I instantly recalled my angel's words. He was already peering up at me with concerned eyes, and was probably wondering what was going on.

How this had inflated into a full-blown argument was none of my concern (alright, fine, maybe a little—okay, half) but I wasn't going to let him worry unnecessarily.

"I have an idea, but you need to raise this to the HOD or something," I stole a kiss from Chip, who looked stunned and adorably confused. "I know someone who can bake and cook really well."

*

My angel would not stop worrying.

"You know how much I'm afraid of speaking up in class!" He repeated for the second time since we left the house. "I know I may not have a shift today, but I still have to be in the bakery y-you know? And I mean, what...what if the students don't like me? Are you sure it's going to be okay? How am I qualified to be—"

"Angel, relax," I kissed his forehead. "It's just filling in for someone—take it as though you're helping them. See, Mrs. Harry doesn't need to worry, and there's less of a hassle for the office."

"But...but."

"The lesson plan's all been done. You only need to ensure that they are safe, and that they have fun alright?" My angel paled at that.

"That's already so hard!" He wrung his hands in worry. "It's not confirmed yet, is it? Are they really sure about this? I don't even have a teaching qualification."

"In all honesty, it's not as if we're the best school around that has tight regulations, especially regarding non-academic subjects. No one has to have a degree in civics to teach it, and we're not exactly the best human beings either, unlike this angel over here," I smirked with a laugh as we entered the bakery to drop Giselle off. "Remember to eat your lunch 'kay? Don't remain stuck up there painting."

My sister nodded vaguely and it was Hansel who actually answered. "I'll make sure of that, don't worry." Giselle laughed at this and pinched his hand which was on her shoulder.

*

Laura looked him up and down. "Ohh...you're from that bakery—the one that's quite far from here isn't it? I used to live near the beach so I've been there a couple of times. I remember the pumpkin bread was really nice."

Chip practically lit up. "O-oh! You think so? We, um, that's our specialty."

"Yeah I remember they sold out pretty quickly and my mother would wake me up at seven just to get it," she rolled her eyes with a laugh, passing Chip a form that was titled 'substitute teacher'. "Fill this in. You've brought your IC right?"

My angel nodded, filling up the form diligently before passing both his IC and the slip of paper back to Laura. "Is this okay?"

"Sure," the admin glanced through his particulars and (because I was tall and had a certain vantage point over the office counter) froze the moment she saw his name. Her gaze darted towards me, then looked away. "Uh...so, you're an alumnus?"

Again, Chip nodded excitably.

"And I heard you are one too, Mr. Jaxon. Your students talk about you quite often," she smirked, as though knowing something I didn't would hold some power over me. Chip turned to me with narrowed eyes.

"You weren't being mean, were you?" He nudged me with a whisper, and I laughed, reasoning that all I ever did was enjoy giving them runs whenever they complain about the random groupings. Angel was quick to defend and say that it was alright for people to voice their dissatisfactions whenever they wanted to, which I responded to by saying that the kids would not learn to discipline themselves if I did that. Chip pouted.

We had our little conversation while Laura was confirming Chip's particulars, and she finally turned to us with a visitor pass that said Mr. Jaxon-Honeycutt and a slip of paper. "So your class will be held in home economics room one—the one on the third floor. These are Mrs. Harry's instructions," she pointed to the slip of paper, "and the class you're taking is...3A I think."

Chip thanked her nervously and looked to me for advice on what to think about a junior class. I said I wasn't too sure about them being third-years but that I had actually taken that class for gym before. "They're not...too bad. Oh, there's a noisy one. Evans I think, watch out for him. Their okay. Generally." My angel seemed to panic even further after hearing this, and Laura simply watched as I tried to calm him down.

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

[Chip]

"W-wait, don't just leave me here," I pulled on Xander's sleeve as soon as he escorted me to the home economics room. "I forgot how high school kids were like!"

"Just remember how you were like in high school," my husband pointed out but it didn't make things better. "An adorable harmless thing," he teased and I poked his elbow.

"I was a walking strawberry," I sighed, recalling my embarrassing moments back in high school. The mere thought of myself back then made me cringe and blush. Xander only shrugged.

"Like I said, harmless and adorable."

I checked the time and it was nearing eleven. The class would be arriving soon and I had yet to write the recipe on the board. "You have to go now," I turned to Xander, "it's almost—w-wait, don't go yet! Wait I don't know," I finished intelligently, picking up a white-board marker and starting to write today's theme and sample recipe on the board.

"Relax Angel, they're going to love you," my husband leaned down to plant a kiss on my head. "In fact, they're probably going to like you so much I'd rather keep you away from these shits." I turned to him with narrowed eyes.

"They're not!"

He only laughed, nuzzling my neck and wishing me all the best. "See you later."

I didn't want him to go.

"A-alright. See you..." I said listlessly as he left the class with a last smile.

Then began my two-and-a-half-hours worth of high school.

*

"Ooh so you're the new teacher—is that your name?" Someone asked immediately upon entering the home economics room, ignoring the instructions written on the board to go to his station and staring instead at my visitor pass. "Mr. Jaxon-Honeycutt? That's such a long name. What do I call you?"

"Um, well I—"

"I think I'll just call you Mr. Honeycutt," he decided without waiting for my reply. "We already have a Mr. Jaxon so I don't want to confuse myself or, um, anyone else. So I think Mr. Honeycutt's the better choice. Right, Finn?" The boy said to his friend who flicked his forehead in return.

"Get to your station."

"Aw, c'mon Finn...you've been so cold recently, what's up with you?"

I blinked, confused as I watched the pair go to their station at the back. Oh, so that must have been Evans. The one Xander was talking about.

Several students shuffled into the class with their home economic textbooks in their arms, staring at me openly or greeting me with a nod. Unlike Evans however, they didn't inspect my visitor pass so I arrived at the conclusion that an introduction was necessary. B-but I mess up high school introductions all the time! Plus, it's been more than five years since I did some self-introduction because I'm such an anti-social pebble living in a bubble!!

By the time I had finished my internal conflict and looked up to face the class, everyone was at their stations staring at me, waiting for me to start the class.

"U-um, hi. Good morning. You're all early! That's...uh, very...very happy. I mean, very good—I'm happy." So much for being cool. Honestly Chip, the moment you speak, I wish you hadn't.

Evans was at the back with a thumbs-up. Aw, he's so sweet.

"I'm filling in for Mrs. Harry, who's sick today but cares a lot about your class so she sent some instructions for you to do today," okay that went well. "Today is...pie, as you can see—on the board—um. I mean, the theme, is pie. The sample recipe I've written on the board is a blueberry pie, and uh," oh. Someone raised her hand. "Y-you have a question?"

"But sir, the recipe you've written on the board. It's different from the one in our textbook on page fifty-six," the girl piped curiously and the sound of turning pages was heard across the class. "Which one do we use?"

Ah! I didn't know they had textbooks before writing the recipe on the board...

"You could use whichever that you like, really, um, there's absolutely no restriction at all. There's no correct answer in baking—it's just the...the passion you put into it, you know?" I managed shyly. "A-anyway, the one on the board is just a...sort of a secret recipe that I use when I make blueberry pie s-so."

The girl nodded. "Aight thanks sir!"

"Wait, sir, so can we make other pies too?" Evans asked. "Mrs. Harry used to allow us to do that but recently she wants us to stick to the recipes on the board."

Oh no. It wasn't up to me to make the decision but...somehow I really wanted them to make what they liked.

"Since...since today's theme is pies, I'm sure Mrs. Harry would allow everyone to decide on their own," several students rejoiced. "But of course! Don't make a mess out of the stock cupboard a-and be sure to use the ingredients sparingly, okay? Also! Don't hoard the flour." They nodded and I told them they had an hour and a half starting now.

*

While Chip was away, the minor disturbance in the bakery—though seemingly coincidental with his absence—was causing more distress than intended.

"Morning," the officer who had entered the bakery flashed his card upon catching Shea's attention. "Is the owner of the bakery in?"

"Uh..." Shea frowned, confused. "What's this all about? No, Chip isn't in at the moment. He'll be back in the afternoon." The officer's partner nodded, and one of them produced a folder.

The youngest member of the Honeycutts shot an indignant glare at the officer before her. "So much for being polite," she said under her breath, rather short-tempered herself. She glanced in the kitchen. It wasn't a busy day, and Hansel was out doing deliveries. Apart from Coco who had went up to check on Giselle, she was alone. The loud whirring of ovens filled an otherwise uncomfortable silence—taut with tension.

She opened the folder and stared at the words.

It was a report.

"Recently there's been a couple of complaints regarding some rumours spread. It's about the new bakery opposite the street. We've been receiving intel that people are out to defame it, since it is a popular bakery in the city."

"So...?" Shea scoffed. "What has this got to do with us? You're not saying Chip's responsible for all this right; he wouldn't hurt a fly."

The officer shook his head. "No worries. Just a couple of questions."

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

A/N: I am so so terribly sorry for the late update. My exams just finished a week ago and now I'm fweeee :DDD although it's just that I've been concentrating on Flight School and Crash (Blake and Ace's SILLY LOVE LIFE) that I barely had time on this. There's no writing block whatsoever so no worries! ^0^ Cuppie will continue to do her best for you, Chip, Xander and Giselle. Thank you so so much for reading ;-; eep

-Cuppiecake /.\ UHU