Febufluff-whump 2020

Day 5: Baking A Cake (Febufluff Platonic List) - MCU

Summary: Grace comes home to Peter and Tony, her adoptive dad, trying and failing to make some cupcakes, so using the experience she has gathered she took matters into her own hands and spiced things up.

I knew immediately that something was slightly off when I walked into the tower. A faint aroma of smoke hit my nose and I went into a slight panic. Not too much though. The sense I was getting from the place was not bad, not particularly good either, but it didn't seem to be anything that could be potentially life-threatening. I hopped into the elevator with the question still on my mind. "Friday, take me to the kitchen." The smell was like food, so it probably came from the kitchen and not the lab. Someone was probably failing to cook right now. Makes sense, right?

I pondered who could be failing at the moment. Bruce, Clint, Steve, and Pepper were all good at cooking. I've helped them multiple times when they need the help. Peter, Tony, and Sam? Not so much. Rhodey and Natasha just don't cook. I took my hands out of my pockets drawing my phone and looking at the dim screen. I thought that maybe someone would have sent me a message about it, but I guess not. My thoughts will probably be confirmed in a few seconds anyways.

The silver-colored, probably steel, elevator doors opened up into the kitchen. Peter and Tony were freaking out and running around the kitchen. Tony was cooling off smoldering, burnt cupcakes while Peter was trying to clean up the flour coated counter. I stood in the doorway for a few more seconds, watching the scene unfold. Only interrupting the scene when a small chuckle escaped my lips. Peter turned to me and ran over.

"Oh thank goodness, Grace, you're here! We were trying to make cupcakes, then we didn't add enough milk, and made a mess. Then we left them in the oven too long and now they are burnt to a crisp, and we don't know how to fix any of this." Peter rambled, hardly stopping to take a breath. I stifled my bubbling laughter and gave a nod.

"Pete, why did you even try?" He mumbled something along the lines of 'I thought this time would be different.' "Sure you did..." I snorted when my laughter bubbled over. I moved over and scrubbed the dishes, quickly stealing the dirty pots and pans from them, washing them and putting them in the strainer. I dumped their burnt cupcakes, much to Tony's displeasure, in the trash can. With the kitchen now clean I turned my attention to the audience.

"So, you two want to cook without burning the tower down. Correct?" I asked, waiting until I heard signs of approval from both of them. "Well, you've come to the right cook! What do you want to make. Cupcakes? Boring." Dragging out the 'o' without waiting for a response. "I say we make a full cake!" Tony looked at me with speculation in his eyes. Peter obviously was totally in for the idea.

"If we are making a cake can we at least stick with the same design as earlier? We were going for chocolate frosting with vanilla frosting colored dark blue." I nodded my approval. The dark brown of the chocolate and the dark vibrant blue would look nice together

"Also, you two are making it, not me. Peter, you can do the cake batter, and Tony, you can do the frosting." They seemed to respect my decisions. A smile overtaking my face I clapped, "Time to get started." I grabbed a cookbook from one cabinet and flipped to the chocolate cake page and left it out in front of a bowl for Peter to use. I grabbed a Starkpad and found my favorite frosting recipe online and laid it out where Tony would be working with the simple instructions of; gather the ingredients.

I grabbed the measuring cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons they would each need. Peter was decently good at measuring with the whole 'I have to measure out all the web formula ingredients and mix them while I'm in my science class. I still don't get how his teacher hasn't noticed yet. I told him to measure out the dry ingredients and call me over when it was time to mix them. I went over to Tony, lecturing him on how important it is to not eyeball the ingredients on a new recipe, and especially on frosting. With a few little tips here and there, he was done and I told him to make a piping bag. Not that hard, just cut a plastic bag at the tip.

I had to dash over to Peter and have him carefully mix the ingredients so powder didn't end up flying everywhere. He quickly beats in the eggs, vegetable oil, milk, water, and vanilla extract. I pulled out a cake pan and we poured every last bit in. I had already had Tony preheat the oven so we just plopped it in and I set a timer. "I hope this shows you two that cooking isn't as hard as it appears to be. The only requirement is that you actually follow the directions." I said giving Tony a stern look at those last words. He let out a quiet laugh at that. His original stance right now might give a person a 'I really don't care' look, but during my time here I had learned to depict some of Tony's nonchalant expressions like the one he is giving right now. He loves Pete and I just like if we were his biological children.

Small talk was quickly initiated by Peter who rambled about some vague detail of his day that he turned into a complete story that had humor and everything else a good story needs. The timer rang out above Peter's chatter and I quickly stopped the alarm and took it out. This time it wasn't burnt, unlike the first time. "Time for frosting!" I said. I grabbed the piping bags that Tony had made as well as the bowl filled to the brim with frosting. Grabbing a good enough knife for the task since they didn't have the actual tool I wanted. I allowed Peter to frost the sides before I showed Tony how to do the top. I have to make sure my two chef-in-training are getting somewhat equal participation.

After this came time. I handed them each a piping bag and told them these exact words, "Go crazy, but not too crazy." With those instructions exactly what I expected happened. There was a rim around the top edge and the top and bottom of the sides, but in between the top and bottom edges of the sides were zigzags up, and down, and up, and down, etc. It looked perfect. Excellently displaying how both the boys are horrible chefs. I had us all stand behind it with our best smiles on, Tony being the best with his classic billionaire grin, as Friday took a picture.

Then came the part they were dreading, "What now?" Peter asked with his back to the countless pots and pans drowning the countertop behind him. I grinned and gave a sarcastic shrug before gesturing to the mess behind him.

"Well, you made that mess, so time to clean it up!" I said which got a groan from Peter. "And even better? I'm not helping." I pulled out my phone and sat at one of the bar stools to emphasize my point. I smiled, "You might want to do that before Pepper gets here in..." I took a look at the time. "30 minutes." That got them moving.

When Pepper got here we made sure to eat dinner in the other room so she wouldn't see the monsity of the cake they made. But when dinner was over, "So, Pep," Tony started. I saw her expression immediately go into a 'what did you do this time' sort of expression. "It's not anything bad this time!" He insisted. Well, it could have been a lot worse if I didn't get home when I did. I smiled at this and watched Peter walk into the room carrying the cake.

"We made cake!" Peter announced, clearly excited about presenting his accomplishment. The look of shock on Pepper's face was crazy. I'm guessing she never expected Peter and Tony to actually succeed in making anything that required the oven.

"I've got to say that I am thoroughly surprised. Grace, thank you for not helping them burn the tower down." Pepper said, with humor lacing her tone. Some other less important words were exchanged before we all sat down and Tony cut the cake. Distributing it and storing the rest of the cake for later we all started munching on the wonderful cake. I never thought my brother and dad could actually cook something successfully... 

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Word Count: 1457