[mm; you can't handle the truth!!]

[bythatmuch]

Max has been wondering, lately, why Ben hasn't shown any signs of mental improvement since his "sessions" began all those weeks ago. Dr. Crane said he was one of the best psychiatrists in the whoooole country, and yet...

Ben is still totally unstable, and Max is suspicious.

This is why he's currently seated at a table downstairs with the good doctor

Comments

[imthegoodguy]

Ben is in an odd state, as Max and Alex may have noticed. Colloquially the state is called "Cloud 9". He's more cheerful these days, more lighthearted, and everything he cooks is done with an overabundant amount of love. Amazing that it doesn't throw off the recipe!

Ben's tinkering in the kitchen now, making a red velvet cake from scratch. He might as well not have used any food dye given that the copious love poured into the cake is strong enough to turn the batch a firetruck shade of red!

(Figuratively, of course.)

[bythatmuch]

It is very, very difficult to be mad at a face like that, especially when it's focused on making cake.

But Max is not relenting, this time!

"Ben," he starts, thumping into the kitchen with a pointed finger, "you - "

...

"Is that red velvet?"

[imthegoodguy]

"Yes," he says in that excited, vibrating voice of his. Makes him sound rather like an overexcited dog.

[bythatmuch]

"Are you going to make cream cheese frost- "

DAMN IT HOW DOES BEN DO THAT?

:|

"NO. Wait. I need to talk to you about something."