Baking is an activity that often occurs in the mind palace. Many sweets are cooked to match their tastes, for example, Virgil's favorite sweet is the peanut butter cookie, while Patton's is the overly sweet sugar cookie with mountains of frosting and sprinkles. The twins share a love of cake, while Janus and Logan prefer pie over any other.

Their baking recipes aren't limited to the items listed, they enjoying trying new recipes, some are wins, other fails-aka the pickle pie monstrosity-but even so, each time is better than the last.

Today is a baking day it seems. Janus had promised everyone that cookies would be made, so, he carried Logan off to the kitchen as he gathered up his little ones, not at all fazed by the amount of energy as they all seemed eager to bake and make a mess as always. In times like these, Janus deemed it acceptable to make a mess. What're cookies without flour right?

He had dressed Logan in an age-appropriate outfit as promised, it consisted of an oversized black sweater with yellow stars on it with short overalls over it, and to match, the yellow was used in his knee-high socks as well. He had made sure to get him padded up just in case too, he didn't want any messes, well, any that don't involve sugar and flour that is. While flustered, Logan seemed to be letting go a bit as he easily slipped into headspace. He remains shy, but not overly so, instead of hiding his face away, he is now glancing around curiously while lightly chewing on his teething bracelet, the said chewing silicone parts are shaped like planets.

"Cookies!" Remus chirps, growing impatient even if they had only just entered the kitchen. Janus snickered at his enthusiasm and wagged a playful finger at him.

"Patience my dear goblin, you'll have your cookies." He assures him, chuckling as he sticks out his tongue.

"Are we making chocolate chip?" Patton asks, a hopeful twinkle in his eye as he begins grabbing the milk and butter from the fridge.

"Yeah!" Cheered Roman while clapping his hands. "Chocolate chip! Chocolate chip!"

Janus snorted and cradled Logan who rested his head on his shoulder, wiggling in his arms. Janus spared him a short glance before setting him on his feet. He immediately latched onto his side and buried his face into his neck. With a playful roll of his eyes, Janus lifted him onto the counter instead.

"We can do chocolate chip," The caregiver assures, beginning to grab flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, chocolate chips, etc. He's made these cookies many times, but he knew everyone would want a turn in helping. Because of this fact, he brought all the ingredients over to their kitchen island, laying out the correct measuring materials and such before grabbing the youngest in headspace and plopping him into one of the chairs at the said island.

"Alright, what do we do first before touching anything?" Janus questions them, specifically eyeing Remus who pouted at the question.

"Wash our hands!" Chirps Patton before eagerly moving towards the sink. Nodding with a small smirk, he allowed Patton and Roman to go first, but seeing as Remus hadn't moved yet, he knew he would need a bit of persuading.

"Remus," Janus cooed, only to be ignored as Remus turned to the side, his pout still present on his lips. "Don't you want to make cookies? You can't help if you don't wash your hands first, there are many germs on your fingers."

"Adds fwavor!"

Janus cackled at such a claim, and his laughing earned a small smile from his Gremlin. "Well, if the cookies were just for you, then I wouldn't mind as much, however, they're for all of us, and while you enjoy your extra flavoring, I don't think any of us will. So, if you want to help with the cookies then you must wash your hands."

Remus huffed but reluctantly dragged his feet over to the sink while Janus grabbed their aprons. He draped his on, that of course reads "Kiss the Cook" on it. It's bright pink as well, having been a gag gift. He refuses to wear it unless they're in little space. As he put it on, he ignored the little giggles from his babies and threw playful glares at them as he helped Logan with his galaxy-themed apron.

"All clean!" Remus shrieks after washing his hands, while Janus suspected he didn't scrub along to the happy birthday song as he had taught him, he took the excess bubbles on his hands as a win-that means he actually used soap this time around. Because of his allergy, they had to experiment with different types of soap, and eventually found that scentless ones work best.

"Great, then put on your apron," Janus insists as he carries Logan over to the sink to help him wash his hands as well, only to raise an eyebrow as the other pushes his hands away.

"M'wanna do it," He says, beginning to pump soap on his hands, scrubbing it in.

Janus shrugged and glanced over, narrowing his eyes as he noticed the twins attempting to sneak a few chocolate chips. He cleared his throat, catching their eyes as they froze, their expressions shifting to one of guilt. Well, Roman's did, Remus took the approach of "well I was already caught" and knocked back a handful of chocolate chips.

"Boys," Janus scolds lightly, but, judging by his tone he wasn't upset. "We need those for the cookies, you can eat the extras after."

"Sorry," Roman says sheepishly, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. Janus smirked and beckoned his little lion over, ruffling his hair as he grew close enough.

"It's alright, I'm not angry," He assures him.

"Done," Logan exclaims, showing off his dripping hands. Janus chuckles and grabs a napkin, drying off his hands before carrying him back over to his seat. He clapped his hands together and glanced around at his audience.

"Next step?"

"Shouldn't you already know?" Remus complains, not one for being patient.

"Yes well, it's been a minute, and I want to be sure you all know what to do as well," Janus insists, of course, he knows what's next on the agenda, but he wanted to know if they did, besides, if they didn't he would love to show them again.

"Now we measure the ingredients!" Chirps Patton, eager to help as he moved closer, hoping he would get a turn in measuring out the ingredients.

With a nod, Janus hands one of the measurements over to Patton. "We'll need one cup of granulated sugar, you can be my little helper and scoop out the sugar can't you fawn?"

Patton's cheeks burned a light pink, but he bobbed his head, eagerly taking the measuring cup from him and dipping it into the container of sugar. He was sure to wipe the excess off the top before tipping it into their big, orange bowl.

"Does anyone remember what we do with the wet and dry ingredients?" Janus quizzes, standing clear in case any mess was made or he needed to stop a sudden disaster.

Roman gasped and immediately bounced up and down. "I do! I do! We separate them!"

Janus nodded his head and handed the measuring cup over to him once Patton was finished. "That's right, we need one cup of brown sugar as well."

"I wanna do one," Remus whines, followed up by a similar noise escaping Logan as well.

Janus clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Patience, everyone will receive a turn, there are plenty of ingredients to be passed around, we have only just begun."

After the brown sugar was dunked into the bowl as well, Janus thought of his next question. "What do we do when taking cookies out of the oven?"

Remus pouted at the said question, feeling very targeted. "We put on da stupid hand covers," he grumbles.

Janus smirked. "And why?"

"So we don't get an owwie," Logan finishes, smiling shyly as Janus cooed.

"What smart boys I have, Logan you can do the next one after Remus."

"I wanna do the flour!" Chirps Remus as he reached for the bag, only to whine as it was tugged out of his reach.

"You wish Goblin, you're doing the baking soda," Janus insists, setting the flour to the side. He grabbed the measuring spoons and found the teaspoon and handed it off to Remus. The little monster punched a new hole in the box, ignoring the existing one, and tugged the spoon out so hard that some of the baking soda flung out. Remus glanced over at the mess, and then back at Janus with a cheeky grin.

"Oops."

Janus snorted and shook his head. He'd clean the mess up later.

After dumping the baking soda in, the spoons were handed off to Logan. He opted to act the complete opposite of Remus and his chaotic nature and used the half of a teaspoon to dip into the baking powder gently, carefully bringing it to the bowl before flipping it over. After, he beamed and glanced up at Janus, who pecked at his head.

"Great job my little owl, very good. I'm proud of all of you, now for the flour-"

"I wanna do it!" Chirps Roman, suddenly grabbing at the bag. It fell forward, spilling everywhere, which only fueled Remus' excitement.

"Snowball fight!" He cheers, taking a handful of the flour.

"No Remus-" Janus was interrupted by a makeshift flour snowball being thrown at his face. He blew out, causing a wind of flour to fall off him, and the sound of his littles laughing had him grinning deviously.

"Oh? You find this funny do you?" He asks, running his gloved hand over his face, wiping excess flour off as he moved their bowl of ingredients out of the way so they wouldn't ruin their progress so far. The giggling littles glanced at each other before nodding their heads, and suddenly, Janus was armed with his own "snowballs".

" We'll see about that!" He exclaims, tossing a fleet of flour at Remus, he laughed at the impact and Janus yipped as Roman joined in, throwing his own ball of flour.

"Take that viwwain!"

"I believe you're looking for the word 'villain' dear." Janus mocks playfully, dodging another cloud of white as Patton joined.

"I said that!"

"Nu-uh, you didn't," Logan insists matter of factly.

"See? Lo, you're on my side," Janus insists, suddenly grabbing the man, causing him to squeal and cling to his papa as he hid behind the island while his other group of littles mercilessly attacked the area with flour.

"Coward!"

"Now boys, can't we settle this over a nice cup of warm milk with a cookie?" Janus calls out while Logan giggles in his lap, beginning to grab his own "snowballs".

" Can I throw one?" He whispers to Janus.

Janus grins evilly and nods his head, carefully setting him to the side. Logan stands and peaks his head from behind the island before tossing the flour at Roman's face, laughing loudly at his startled expression. He stumbled back and whined, stomping his foot.

"Hey! Dat was means!"

"Was not! Papa said I could!"

"Okay, okay," Janus disputes, standing as well, wiping a bit of excess flour off his person. "Let's go back to baking yeah?"

Roman huffs and glares at Logan while the little genius merely sticks his nose up and struggles to climb back into the chair. With a bit of boost, he sat at the island and Janus brought the bowl back over after wiping some floor onto the ground, it's already covered in the substance anyway, no use trying to be clean when it's already a huge mess.

"Flour?" Remus asks, scooping a handful of flour up, only to be quickly stopped by Janus.

"No, no, we'll use the flour that's in the bag, I don't trust the table," Janus explains, reaching into the bag with the measuring cup. He began scooping each cup at a time, leaving the total amount of cups at three. Once in, he sped through the rest of the dry ingredients before switching out the bowls, grabbing a new one for the wet ingredients.

"Now," Janus begins. "Do we use the same type of measuring cup?" He questions.

"No!" Patton squeaks, shuffling closer to Janus, wanting to be there to help. "We hafta use the liquid one!"

Janus nodded and smirked. "That's right, and with these liquid ingredients I'm going to help you all with pouring it in, we already have flour everywhere, we don't need milk as well." He explains, grabbing the correct measuring cup. He grabbed the milk off the table and opened it for Patton before handing it along.

"Two hands dear fawn," Janus reminds, watching carefully as Patton holds it by its handle and supports the bottom with his second hand. Sticking out his tongue in concentration, he carefully poured the milk into the cup. Once finished he set it down and grinned, beaming at his achievement-even if he did spill a bit.

"I did it!" He squeals, clapping his hands, only to whack his hand right into the jug, knocking it over. Janus immediately dove forward, grabbing the jug before it could spill further, and sighed, especially as Patton visibly inflated.

"No, no dear it's alright," He assures as Patton opened his mouth to apologize. "At least it's on the table," He adds, easily swiping it up with a paper towel. He gave his head a quick peck and accepted a hug from his carebear.

"Can we put them in the oven yet?" Complains Remus, growing bored of the activity, even though digging his toes into the flour of the ground was fun, watching the scene before him was not.

"Patience Oscar," He teases, ignoring Remus' antics as he blew a raspberry at him. "We can't have cookies without the ingredients. Unless you want me to pour them all by my lonesome?"

"If Ree doesn't wanna do it then I call takin his turn!" Roman insists, leaning up against the table further while Remus huffed.

"I wanna do it too!"

"Then have patience."

Remus huffed and slumped. He wanted to put his hand in the oven already!

"Now, moving on."

---

As each ingredient was added one by one, with a surprisingly limited amount of spills and tears, Janus was finally able to combine both the dry and wet ingredients and mix them with an electric mixer. While the little ones wanted to mix as well, that was a hard no from Janus. No way in hell were they using the electric mixer that's for sure.

Once mixed and chocolate chips folded in, he placed the cookies on the pans and carefully placed them in the oven.

"Now, we wait," Janus announces, earning groans from his twins. He chuckled and merely lifted Roman onto the island. He ignored his puzzled expression and grabbed a rag, briefly wiping at the flour of his feet and face. Eager to be cleaned and pampered, Roman gladly sat still.

Remus not so much.

"Noooo! Don't wanna be cwean!" Remus whines, kicking his feet while Janus attempted to grab at his ankles. He wrinkled his nose at the very smell of them and managed to hold each leg still enough to wipe them down. Of course, it's a temporary solution, they would all need baths later, including himself, however, he wanted to get to work on the kitchen, which means the little ones will have to stick it out in the living room, which works out perfectly since they have to wait for the cookies to finish cooking.

"Remus, that's enough now," Janus reprimands, carrying him and Roman to the living room, setting them on their feet. "Now go and play while I clean the kitchen."

"Papa m'wanna be cwean," Logan calls out, attempting to swipe at the flour of his overalls. Janus glanced over briefly and nodded.

"I'll be right there Raven," He assures his littlest one. He turned his attention back to the twins and firmed his expression. "Don't step foot in the kitchen until I say so, understood? I don't want flour all over the house. You can even watch cartoons-"

"Deal!" They cheer in unison, stumbling over to the couch, away from the kitchen just like Janus wanted. With a breath of relief, he turned and had Patton cleaned as well, however, he left Logan in his seat. He was too small to leave alone, and Janus trusted him enough not to climb down. With all his littles occupied, he began sweeping the flour up.

Even with the large messes and near arguments, Janus wouldn't have it any other way, cooking with his little ones is the highlight of his week. What he wasn't looking forward to was the massive sugar rush that would commence after their cookies and milk.

"Papa?"

Janus glanced up from his sweeping to his baby Robin, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Yes, dear?"

Logan fidgeted for a moment. "M'wuv you."

Janus melted at his words, and an uncharacteristic smile fell on his lips.

"I love you most my sweet Raven, would you like a bottle of milk as we wait for our cookies?"

Logan nodded his head, slipping a finger into his mouth, gently sucking on it. With a nod, Janus set the broom aside for a moment to fill a baby bottle filled with milk. He carried it to his baby and lifted him into his arms, holding the nub to his lips. With pink cheeks, Logan reluctantly latched on and nuzzled closer. Spouting his extra pair of arms, Janus used them to continue sweeping as he fed Logan his bottle.

Janus wouldn't have it any other way.

A loud crash had Janus' head shooting up, and he groaned to himself.

"Jaaaan! Remus broke the table!"

"I did not! It was Ro!"

"Was not!"

With a deadpan expression, Janus pressed his lips together.

Yup, he wouldn't have it any other way.