Third Person’s POV:

“Fuck!” Xander cursed, for what seemed like the 20th time as he set the timer for the oven. He had placed the dishes in the oven and set the temperature to 190 degrees according to Castian’s instructions but had forgotten to set the timer so for the past 30 minutes, he had left it sitting in the oven for nothing. Well, at least he didn’t have to worry about flies. It was 5:53pm already, 7 minutes before Kye arrives and he had yet finished preparing the dishes.

2 hours ago, he almost cut his fingers off with the knife while cutting a block cheese into finger-size.

1h 45 minutes ago, he almost scalded himself while scooping the boiled pasta out of the hot water.

1h 17 minutes ago, he almost lose his instructional notebook when he dropped it on the lit stove due to his flour coated fingers when he was preparing to deep fry the cheese sticks.

43 minutes ago, he forgot to defrost the frozen packet of soup.

Basically, it was a living nightmare and he was close to having a mental breakdown. He didn’t know that preparing a full course meal himself was like sending himself to war. Whether or not the food was edible was another thing.

Stirring the soup, making sure that it doesn’t burn at the bottom, the doorbell rang, much to what he had expected, though he was silently hoping that Kye would be late. Kye’s a punctual individual after all. Sighing lightly, he washed his hands thoroughly, double- wait, triple checking the oven and stove before going to unlock the door for Kye.

Seeing the sight before his eyes, Lye stifled back a laugh when a stressed looking Xander welcomed him in a flour covered apron with scattered batter stains all over, even his hair had flour on it. “Hi.” He greeted with a warm smile while seemed to result in Xander mirroring his expression.

“Sorry about the mess. I’ll be done soon.” Xander apologised, slightly embarrassed of how unsightly he looked as he led Kye into the living room before excusing himself swiftly and making a sprint into the kitchen when Kye said that he smelled something burning.

Xander’s face fell into one of disappointment when he found the base of the soup to be burnt. Tears threatened to surface from all the pent up frustration and anger at himself in how everything wasn’t turning up well despite how he wanted to make it perfect for Kye.

Plating the dishes with a heavy heart, he arranged them neatly on the dining table, biting down on his bottom lip as he contemplated whether to call Kye out to eat his cooking or to throw all into the bin and call for takeout. At least he didn’t have to worry about Kye getting food poisioning. Sighing heavily, he picked up the messy looking baked dish and headed towards the trash.

“Wow. Smells nice.” Kye awed to himself as he eyed the plated food with wide eyes, causing Xander to stop in his tracks to turn and look, only to catch Kye’s eyes staring back at him embarrassedly as he stood by the table. “Sorry! It smelled so good- I didn’t mean to peek!” Kye panicked.

“Do you… really mean it?” Xander questioned hesitantly as he gripped tightly on the ceramic dish as Kye tilt his head in confusion. “That it smells nice…”

“Of course.” Kye replied honestly before walking towards Xander and taking the baked dish from his hands and placing it back onto the table. Xander stared at him silently, as he watch his unpleasant looking dish get brought back to the table. “Are we going to eat or stare at each other?” Kye asked with an awkward chuckle, snapping Xander out of his daze.

“S-Sorry. I’ll get us drinks.” Excusing himself, he filled two glasses with sparkling cocktail before placing down the glasses in front of Kye and himself before taking a seat. “Um… dig in.” He offered timidly as Kye stared at him weirdly, wondering why he’s behaving as such but nonetheless, started digging in.

Taking a bite of the baked penne, Kye’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, a soft moan leaving his lips as he savoured the taste. The penne was slightly softer than normal but the taste is there. It almost tasted like Castian’s cooking to Kye. “It’s good.” He praised truthfully, making Xander’s eyes light up slightly in surprise by Kye’s unexpected compliment, not believing his ears.

“Really?” He asked but wasn’t given an answer. Instead, a spoon of the penne was held before his lips as Kye motioned him to open his mouth. Slowly, he decided to face his own cooking and allowed Kye to feed him. To his surprise, it wasn’t as bad as he had expected. Like Kye said, it was good. It may look unappetizing on the outside but it tasted good. This made him let out a huge sigh of relief as he thanked Castian’s holiness.

As they were soon finishing their meals, Xander noticed a candle holder at the side of the table as he wondered why he had place it there. It was then he realised that he had forgotten to light up the candles he had bought. ‘What a candle-less night dinner.’ he thought to himself, slightly disappointed at himself for the whole disaster.

“Thank you for the meal, Xander. I enjoyed it. I hope to try your cooking again.” Kye beamed in content. The heavy weight in Xander’s heart seemed to lift as the longer he stared into Kye’s clear honest eyes, knowing that he wasn’t just saying it to comfort him.

“You’re welcome. I’ll cook for you anytime you want.” He said, despite knowing the trouble he signed up for. He’s so going to sign up for the 2 C’s cooking lessons.

Remembering what he had in mind, Kye rummaged through his bag to pull out a neatly wrapped package before handing it over to Xander, asking him to open it. Upon opening the package, Xander choked back his tears as he stared at the gift in adoration, burying his face into the precious gift he received. It was beyond priceless. It was the best gift he or even Matthew can ask for. It was a cute set of knitted baby hat and boots. The very first gift Xander has received for Matthew from another. He was so going to treasure it and pass it down to Matthew’s kids in the future.

“Sorry if it’s not that nice. I asked Castian to buy some equipments for me but he couldn’t find some so I had to replace it with something else similar.” Kye sighed deeply but shrugged, knowing that he can’t fault Castian.

“You sew it yourself?” Xander asked, astonished at how skillful he is with his fingers.

“Yea… sorry it’s not that nice as to those store ones… I tried to make an outfit for him to look like yours but it didn’t turn out as expected...” Kye pouted, resulting in a hearty laugh from Xander.

“It’s perfect. I love it and I’m sure Matthew will love it too. Don’t worry about it not looking like mine, he will look like yours so I wouldn't mind.” He hinted. “I’ll go make us dessert. Why don’t you pick out a movie in the meanwhile?” Nodding his head at Xander’s suggestion, Kye went over to the shelve of CDs before scanning through them one by one, eventually deciding on Finding Dory. Just as he pulled the case out, a small box dropped onto the floor and opened. Curious, he picked it up to see a key and a note.

‘Dear Kye, I know it’s only been a few months since we’ve known each other but you’ve stolen my heart and now, I’m giving you the key to my heart. Will you give me a chance and be my boyfriend?

Yes - Smile
No - Kiss me

Yours truly, Xander                              '                                            
Meanwhile in the kitchen, Xander was busy grimacing at every line he remembered of Castian’s teaching as he prepared the banana split for the two of them. He swear that Castian had utterly scarred his mind by corrupting a kid’s song, especially when it’s one of the ones he occasionally sings to Matthew, Twinkle Twinkle little stars.

First you peel the foreskin off

Then you thrust it in the hole

Then you scoop the heavy balls

Slam it deep into the hole

Then you shoot some white strands out

Then you know that it is done

With how all the preparation follows the song step by step, he couldn’t help but cringe at how creative yet out of the world Castian’s way of making him remember the steps was.

Shaking the can of whipped cream, he sprayed a reasonable amount of it as a finishing touch before shaking his head rid of the uncanny thoughts and then walking out to the living room to find Kye, slightly hoping that he had spotted the box he had hidden. To his disappointment, Kye was just sitting at the sofa waiting for him with the movie on pause. Making himself comfortable beside Kye, he handed one of the glass to him which Kye gladly received before playing the movie he had chosen.

Halfway though the movie, Xander felt a light tap on his arm, realising that Kye was asking for his attention. Turning towards him, Kye surprised him by placing a kiss on his cheek before saying sorry and walking off. This made his heart shatter as he remained silent, not knowing what to do or how to reply. All he did was drop his head down in silence as his eyes stayed on the floor.

Watching Xander being in an unusual silence, Kye pulled a tissue before walking back to him, wondering if he had done something wrong. Kneeling on the sofa beside him, he cleaned away the ice cream stain he had unintentionally left on Xander’s cheek before kneeling before him. “Xander?” He called out gently as Xander’s eyes fluttered open slowly, his gaze averted away from Kye’s eyes. “Look at me.” He ordered firmly, slightly irritated at himself for not knowing why Xander was behaving as such.

Very slowly, Xander moved his eyes to fall on Kye’s face, only to be greeted by a warm genuine smile.