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Eric was home, waiting for Jack to get home on their anniversary.
They didn’t have time to go out on a big date that day with Jack’s work schedule and his inability to call the day off, so Eric had another idea of something sweet to do.
Jack wasn’t set to get home for another three hours from his engineering job.
So, why not bake a cake?
Eric had gone and gotten the ingredients for the cake already without Jack knowing, a piping bag to be able to write out letters on the finished cake, different icings, a cute little rainbow flag on a stick to put in it—mainly gotten just for fun—and some sprinkles to try and sprinkle on it.
He was already starting to make the batter, already messing up the eggs and accidentally letting some eggshells fall in. Eric was a little annoyed with it, but too lazy to take them out so he left them in. Hopefully, the measurements were right too.. He was hoping, because he didn’t measure out everything super well.
He started baking it soon after, putting in the oven and setting a forty minute timer, then deciding to start on the frosting.
Being the silly man he was, he decided to make the frosting purple, and the buttercream for the writing black.
He hummed as he whipped it up, but it was a little more liquidy than it should be..
Something was wrong, different, he was messing it up.
In a panic, he did everything to try and fix the frosting, then trying to work on how he was going to write ‘happy anniversary’ on the cake, and practicing, thinking of the sprinkles, everything.
Eventually an hour passed, he’d gotten distracted and made some popcorn on the side for a movie later.
Only to remember the cake still in the oven.
“Shit shit shit—” Eric cursed under his breath as he rushed to the oven, quickly turning it off and opening it, seeing the slightly burnt cake sitting in its pan still.
He sighed, shoulders slumped as he put on oven mitts and pulled it out.
Placing the pan on the oven, he sighed in disappointment as he looked at how it was burnt, carefully extracting it out and onto a platter.. Only to find out that he had forgotten to use anything to make sure the cake wouldn’t stick to the pan.
Parts of it stuck to the pan, others just didn't bake properly or were so burnt it flaked off.
Still, Eric was determined to do something nice, despite only having an hour and a half till Jack would be getting home.
He grabbed a spatula and the bowl of frosting he.. tried, to make. It was still a little goopier than it probably should be, but he used it anyway.
He managed to cover the whole cake, messing up the writing of ‘Happy Anniversary’ a little. He was about to scrape it off for the fourth time when he heard the lock turning on the door. Eric froze, already with tears building in his eyes with frustration that he couldn’t make the cake perfect for him and Jacks anniversary of dating.
“I’m home.” Jack called out as he stepped inside with a sigh, shutting and locking the door.
He then turned and saw Eric in the kitchen, standing with a forced smile. He raised his brow at him a little, slowly walking over. “Hey..?”
“Happy anniversary!” Eric managed out, his voice a little shaky as he held up the cake on the platter, the shaky writing on the cake, and the slight mess it was of the frosting and missing pieces and dips from burning it slightly.
Jacks face softened, setting the bag he brought in with him on the floor. “Oh baby.. You didn’t have to.” His voice was soft, quiet and slow, smiling carefully.
Eric had to swallow a little hard, still smiling with his teeth, feeling the corners of his lips quiver and twitch.
“I-.. well I wanted to, I just wanted to make something for, for you.. us, you know?”
“I know love.. Are-, are your eyes watering?”
Eric froze at the questioning of his eyes, setting the cake down quickly as he wiped at them. “No! No.. no, not at all!” He said quickly, words stumbling over each other.
Jack sighed, moving over to Eric, placing a hand on his shoulder, slowly pulling him closer as he brought a hand up to his cheek. “Hey.. hey now, what’s wrong?” Jack kept his voice comforting.
Just with that tone paired with the words let Erics smile quickly slip into a quivering frown, hands dropping as his eyes watered a little more, keeping eye contact best he could as he sniffled.
“..I burnt the cake, and then the icing didn’t work, and I kept fucking up the writing and it’s just not good-” He trailed off, rambling.
Jack stayed quiet and listened, his thumb brushing against his cheekbone, wiping away any stray tears that fell, keeping him close as he kept his touch gentle and caring.
Eric sighed as he finished, sniffling. “I just wanted to make you something..” He finally croaked out, standing with his hands by his sides.
Jack just smiled softly, wiping away his final tears, a soft hum leaving his lips as he moved his hand from his shoulder down to his waist, keeping him close. “And I love it, honey. Just calm down, okay? We can maybe cook something for dinner before the cake?”
Eric started to smile again at that, clearly calming down. “Yea, yea.. I’d like that, baby.”
Jack smiled. “Perfect, let’s get started then.”
After about an hour, Eric and Jack made themselves a pasta salad with chicken and some vegetables, an extremely filling dinner. Once done with food and putting the leftovers in tupperware containers into the fridge, they had a slice of cake each before putting the rest in the fridge as well, putting a cover over it.
After finishing, Jack went back over to Eric, smiling still. “Hey hun, you wanna have a movie marathon? Maybe go ice skating?” He asked, walking from the kitchen to the living room.
Eric thought about it, giving a soft, yet dramatic hum. “Hmmm.. ice skating first, because it’s your favorite!” Eric declared brightly, smiling like he was proud of himself. “We can watch movies when we come back!”
Jack just chuckled. “Sure thing, love. Let’s head out then, yea?”
Eric nodded. “Yea!”
Most of their time at the ice rink was spent with Jack having to help Eric actually skate, but some of it was just Eric sat on a bench off the ice, watching Jack happily skate around in circles, showing off and enjoying himself again.
Eric always loved the way Jack looked while skating. The subtle redness on his nose that grew with the cold environment, his slightly flushed cheeks, the cute little outfits he wore that still kept him warm, the nice skates he owned that were personalized with a little ‘E’ on the back of them, which Eric had actually bought for Jack, including a J next to it with a heart.
He loved watching as he picked up speed and the air he burned through his hair, the bright white smile on his face, the gentle shivers with the cold, everything about him made Eric fall back in love all over again. And it was beautiful.
He waited a few more minutes before Jack finally returned to him, panting slightly with a big smile. “Hey, wanna get coffee then go home for our movies?” He asked through his breathing.
Eric smiled, a big smile, falling in love again for maybe the twentieth time that one night. He just nodded, breathing out a soft ‘yea’ as Jack slowly helped him off the ice rink, returning his borrowed skates, and out back to Jacks car.
After getting coffee at the coffee shop, they returned home. Eric went straight to the kitchen and started making some popcorn while Jack pulled up some movie choices.
They eventually landed on Disney movies because Eric wanted to end on a sweeter note.
“Can we watch Lady and the Tramp?” Eric asked, pleading as he gave Jack a sort of puppy dog eye look.
Jack rolled his eyes, giving a dramatic sigh as he smiled. “Sure, babe, we can watch that.’
Eric smiled victoriously as he brought over the popcorn, dressed in some comfy plaid pajama pants and a matching shirt with Jack, which was just a basic light blue shirt that he painted a tiny ‘J’ initial on the pocket with, while Jacks had a small ‘E’ on it.
Jack had on his matching shirt and some simple grey pajama pants.
Eric snacked on the popcorn the most, occasionally leaning on Jack and babbling about scenes and how sweet they were, occasionally almost crying or asking Jack for a kiss.. Which he always agreed to give him, and listened every time.
After that movie finished, they watched ‘The Fox and the Hound’, then ‘The Arisocats’.. Eric fell asleep towards the middle of the movie.
Jack smiled carefully, sighing softly as he quietly turned off the TV. Because of working for his job, and also just from trying to work out, he easily carried Eric in a bridal carry and brought him to his bed.
He laid Eric down carefully under the covers, then crawled in on the other side after turning off the lights. He pulled the covers up over them, pulling Eric close as he wrapped his arms around him, letting Erics head rest on his chest.
Eric subconsciously sighed with a smile, nuzzling his head against Jack.
Jack smiled, pressing a tired kiss to the top of Erics head, then rested back against the pillow.
“Goodnight, Eric. Happy anniversary.”