Why had Barnaby invited Felix Gallagher over to bake, of all things? By his own admission Felix basically knew nothing about the culinary arts. If anything, he'd be a hindrance in the kitchen.

Thankfully, him helping wasn't really the point. Barnaby just wanted to spend more time together, to get to know the quiet man more and to continue to melt his icy exterior. It didn't help that the taste of Felix's lips on his was still lingering from their last encounter...

"Let's get started, then— oh! Wait, here, wear this." From a drawer Barnaby pulled out a festive apron, which matched the heart pattern on the one he currently had on. "Don't want to get your clothes messy." He cooed, smiling devilishly.

"Now — first thing's first! We're baking macarons today, so we need to get all of our dry ingredients together." Expecting Felix to follow, Barnaby walked over to the side counter where his large selection awaited. He handed his sous chef-for-the-day a bag of granulated sugar, powdered sugar, and almond flour, before returning to the large center island.

"Alright, time to get these mixed!"

Felix Gallagher
mission: AFFECTION'S CONFECTIONS

☉

Dry ingredients in hand, they were prepared for the next step in the recipe, which called for a little more mechanical help. He gestured to the two stand mixers on the center island, one a pastel pink and the other an eggshell blue.

"Since I need a lot of macrons, I figured we could both have our own stations! Just follow my lead and you should be fine." His voice was warm and encouraging, like a beam of sunlight on a chilly morning.

"If you have questions let me know~" With that, Barnaby set to work. He grabbed one of the sets of measuring cups and began divvying out the appropriate amounts of sugar and flour into the mixing bowl.

Making sure to set the mixer on low, he allowed the whisk attachment to do it's thing.

As that was happening, a quick trip to the refrigerator garnered a large bowl of egg whites and a container of cream of tartar. Setting these next ingredients on the counter, Barnaby glanced over to see how Felix was getting along.

Felix Gallagher
mission: AFFECTION'S CONFECTIONS

☉

How someone could make such a mess in so little time was beyond Barnaby. Was it unexpected? No. Was it an inconvenience? Not really.

Was the light dusting of flour on Felix's face cute and endearing? Yes, absolutely.

Smiling, he approached the larger man and lightly brushed most of the flour from his cheeks.

"Quite the mess you've made already, mon beau." Barnaby cooed, chuckling to himself. No admonishments for the spilled ingredients, no reprimands for wasted time. He was light, playful, relaxed.

"Come, let's continue. Next we add the egg whites, cream of tartar, sugar, and a little bit of salt." He said, turning back to the counter, but jolted to a stop. "Oh! I almost forgot. We have to choose a color."

From a nearby drawer Barnaby pulled out a box of gel food coloring containing all of the primary colors, as well as others like pink and green.

He held the box open for Felix to view and asked excitedly, "Which one should we use?!"

Felix Gallagher
mission: AFFECTION'S CONFECTIONS

☉

In typical journalist fashion, Barnaby was hyper-observant and rarely missed much, even Felix's minute changes in body language. This time, however, he was being fairly obvious in his disappointment.

Barnaby appreciated the candidness. Usually Felix tried to hide his feelings away behind a veil of stoicism. Progress, perhaps?

"No need to apologize. Baking is always messy. Just a part of the process~" Light encouragement, always.

It didn't take long for the bodyguard to choose his color, though it did cause one of Barnaby's eyebrows to quirk in surprise.

"Purple, hm? Interesting choice." He'd expected something a little darker, like blue or green. "I like it, though! Should make the macarons very appealing."

Nodding in affirmation, he looked up at the bigger man with an excited smile on his lips. It was then that he saw a little more flour on Felix's nose, like a white Rudolph's bulb. Barnaby resisted the urge to once again make contact. Focus, focus.

"Is purple your favorite color, mon beau?" A question asked as he continued with the recipe, plucking the food coloring from the box and adding a few drops of it, plus the other ingredients on the list, to the stand mixer bowl.

Felix Gallagher
mission: AFFECTION'S CONFECTIONS

☉

“Does it? How so?” Barnaby asked nonchalantly, his eyes averted to the kitchen island.

An interesting label, purple. The color of royalty, representative of wisdom and luxury. Was that how Felix viewed him?

He busied himself with the mixing of the batter, being sure to scrape the excess from the edge of the steel bowl and blend out any clumps. It smelled good, it looked as if it was prepared correctly, but there was only one true way to know if the mixture would morph into perfect macarons.

Swiping a clean finger into the batter, Barnaby shifted closer to Felix and held his hand up near the other man's mouth. “How does this taste?”

An innocent enough question, said in an innocent enough tone. It was hard to hide the mischief in his eyes, though.

Felix Gallagher
mission: AFFECTION'S CONFECTIONS

☉

Sweet.

As sweet as these macarons, despite his steely outer shell. Felix Gallagher spoke such nice things with such a kind expression in his eyes. It thrilled Barnaby more than he realized.

What was even more thrilling, however, was the warmth of Felix's tongue sucking batter from his finger.

Barnaby held the taller man’s gaze with unflinching resolve and, as his next question fell from his lips, a tense electricity passed between them.

When he was done with his taste test - Barnaby's wrist still in hand - the journalist leaned in a little closer and whispered,

“Tell me, Felix, what is it that you already know?”

Felix Gallagher
mission: AFFECTION'S CONFECTIONS

☉