To Call My Life My Own

September. Swirls of golden, rust and red leaves swirling past the bakery door, sun creeping through the window but not enough to warm the customers completely. Noah didn’t mind that. It just meant more of the warm and hot products were bought. It’s best to see the good side in everything, right?

Even if he hadn’t seen Willem in two weeks.

No, positive thinking. If Noah just kept up with the positive thinking, then all the good vibes would come back in good karma. Right?

“1 hour to go, pet. Will you be alright out here if your dad and I start cleaning down out in the kitchen?”

Noah smiled as his mom broke him out of his trance, and nodded. He didn’t mind manning the shop by himself at the end of the day. It was always a little quieter.

“That’s my good boy. Give us a shout if you need us,” his mom cooed.

Noah blushed a little as she pecked his cheek and ruffled his hair, glad that no customers were in the shop right now to see her treat him like a baby. He was 19 for Christ’s sake!

“Hey, are you still open?”

Holy shit. It was Willem. When did he get in here?!

“W-What are you doing here?” Noah blurted.

No! Stupid question! How could he ask that?

Wait, why was Willem here?! This was a good thing, right?

“It’s a wonder how you get any business if you ask customers that,” Willem teased

Noah blushed even more than he was previously and Will laughed softly. Noah took that brief couple of seconds to look Willem over. Dressed in a dark blue suit and pale blue shirt, Willem looked good in his work clothes. Way more than good. But this wasn’t the time to fantasize. No, focus Noah!

“I just meant why are you here mid-week? You’ve never come in on any day other than a Saturday,” Noah said softly.

“Touché. Well, the twins start Kindergarten on Monday so I want to get them something special,”

So thoughtful!

“What did you have in mind?” Noah asked.

“Maybe a cake or a giant cookie or something – what do you think?” Willem said, raising an eyebrow.

What do you think?

What?

“W-What do I think?” Noah asked, confused.

“Yeah, well, you’re the expert and you know their sugar loves just as well as I do so…”

Willem trailed off, sounding a little helpless, making Noah smile. Something inside him, something very small, made him feel kind of glad that Willem had no real ideas, that Noah was the only one that could help. It made him feel useful, feel needed, if nothing else.

“Okay, well, I know that Camilla loves chocolate and Mackenzie loves strawberries, so…”

~

“So that’s it then. That’s what I’m getting them. Fuck, they’d better appreciate all this effort,”

Noah just smiled. He certainly wasn’t complaining about spending half an hour completely alone with Willem, talking about the one thing that Noah knew he couldn’t mess up and get flustered about. Baking at least didn’t make him look like a total idiot.

“I’m sure they will. Your sisters will love the fact you put the effort into getting them something they like, if nothing else,” Noah shrugged, "just come back in tomorrow afternoon and it'll be ready for you,

“I hope you’re right,” Willem chuckled, “Thanks for helping, Noah. I couldn’t have done this without you,”

Noah blushed at the warm smile on Willem’s lips. That smile was for him. Just for him.

“A-Any time, W-Willem,” Noah stammered.

Damn it. Why did he have to stammer now?! Just when things were going well!

“Call me Will, please,” Willem groaned playfully.

He groaned. Fuck that sounded good. No, focus Noah!

“O-Okay, Will,” Noah smiled.

That sounded so good come off his tongue. So good.

“Much better. See you on Saturday?” Willem asked hopefully.

As if Noah would be anywhere else.

“Yeah, see you on Saturday,” Noah nodded.

Willem flashed another dazzling smile at Noah, before leaving the shop. And if Noah chose to take Willem’s mumble of ‘baby steps’ as a good sign, who could judge him?

Maybe that good karma was on its way after all.