20 Epilogue

1 year later:

"Will, you never come here anymore," Dave whined at William. "Don't you love Noah anymore?"

William resisted the temptation to roll his eyes at Dave. He had just come to give the manager a review and now Dave was complaining about not ever seeing him. It was an complete overreaction. He did visit occasionally and this was even the pâtisserie he visited the most. Technically he didn't even need to be the one giving Dave a review, there were other people for that, he just wanted an excuse to see Noah.

"I saw Noah this morning," he said and raised an eyebrow. "You are fully aware that we live together and I can't be here all the time because I work at head office Besides, there are lots of other branches to visit. This place isn't the sole Quinn's Cakes anymore."

Dave pouted and stuck an unlit cigarette between his teeth.

"I just want to see you together more often," he explained. "I know Katherine tells me things, but it's not the same."

"I told you Katherine was a mole," Noah's voice said from the doorway.

William acknowledged that statement with a nod. Eventually Katherine and Dave had ended up in contact with each other and were continually passing information about their relationship between them.

"She's doing good work," Dave replied with a grin. "She loves those books William bought for her last week."

William had kept his personal promise to supply her with reading material. It had evolved into Noah picking out new ones every month and William would discard any that looked to be too lewd or badly written.

"I'm glad the second hand embarrassment I felt reading the blurbs wasn't wasted," William commented lightly as Noah walked into the office with a tea tray.

"She says she's got some good ideas for dates from them," Dave added.

"That's nice to hear, we need somewhere new to go. We did everything cliche and romantic in Paris last month," Noah said and began pouring out tea into two cups.

"I thought you were staying here for a while?" Dave asked after counting the tea cups. "There's only two cups."

"William and I are the ones staying up here," Noah corrected.

Dave took the hint and stood up. He knew when to leave them alone.

"I'll have a cigarette break," he said and left the office. "I won't be back for half an hour."

Noah closed the door behind him and sat down on the chair next to his boyfriend. By now William had noticed the cake that Noah had brought up with him.

"Why is it a Victoria Sponge again?" he groaned.

Whilst Noah made him a variety of sweet things, it always kept coming back to this cake. He'd never made it again himself despite Noah offering to become his teacher. It wasn't that the cake was bad, it was just a little unexciting.

"We haven't had it since before we went to Paris," his boyfriend replied gently. "You shouldn't diss it; it's the cake that has brought us together."

Their trip to Paris had been a gastronomic dessert tour much to William's delight. He had found many more desserts to try and had made a list of the ones he wanted Noah to make for him. Noah hadn't even made a dent in the list and it had been a month since then.

He accepted the plate of cake Noah passed to him and dug into the cake. This time it was made perfectly. Every once in a while Noah liked to add in too much vanilla and sugar just to remind him of the one he had made.

"It's edible this time," he noted out loud.

Noah smirked at him.

"Of course it is, I've never made the same mistake again. Every time I weigh out ingredients, I think of our first meeting."

William stared at him curiously. There was something he had been wondering about.

"Did my critique really have that effect on you? I was the type of child to be critical about everything."

"Well, my parents were always supportive of everything I made to the extent that it was suspicious," Noah admitted. "When they declared something that was sunken and half raw to be a work of art, I knew they were just trying to be encouraging. You were the first to say it how it was and it was refreshing."

William felt there was something missing there. There was an important factor that had never been explained.

"What about the second part of the promise then?"

Noah had the decency to look embarrassed by his younger self.

"You were also very cute to me. It wasn't just your unflinching criticism that attracted me to you."

William enjoyed seeing how flustered he was. It took a lot to throw Noah off into a blushing mess. Noah then paid him back by peering down his shirt.

"I did leave the love bite low enough to be covered last night," he smirked.

William blushed at the thought of the events of last night.

"Aw, you still blush even now," Noah grinned. "I hope you never change."

His boss' boss resisted the urge to fling cake at his smug face.

"I still haven't forgotten when you left that one on my wrist and everyone at the office was staring at me."

"I said I wouldn't leave them in open places again. You paid me back by giving me one on my neck and everyone here saw it," Noah complained with an innocent face.

"No, you loved the attention," William corrected. "Dave told me all about it."

Noah leaned forward with a suggestive wink and William's phone chose that moment to buzz. He moved away and saw Katherine had sent a text to remind him that he had an important meeting at noon.

"I have to go," he said with a tinge of disappointment. "I'll see you again at home. It's your turn to cook tonight."

James had finally retired just before their trip to Paris. He had declared that William was doing well enough to not need him around anymore. William missed him a lot, but he knew he could always visit him as James lived nearby.

Noah got up and they walked down the stairs together.

"William, I have a question for you," Noah announced suddenly.

The CEO knew that the question was not going to be the most sensible of questions from the tone.

"Yes?"

"I know you visit the other branches of Quinn's Cakes sometimes, are the other pastry chefs better than me?"

"Of course they're not," William scoffed on their way through the shopfloor. "I let Eliza do the hiring so I wouldn't have to try badly made cakes again. No one compares to you."

That line was apparently enough to cause Noah to pull him in for a passionate kiss in the middle of the pâtisserie. The old William would have been scandalised, now he just went with it. No one would recognise them. In any case it was true, there wasn't anyone like Noah.

"I think we made the right decision twelve years ago," William said when they parted for air.

"We did," Noah agreed and linked their hands together.

Their promise from 13 years ago had been fulfilled well.

The End