Title: A Spoonful of Sugar
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Jethro Cane
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: VRD challenge - Yellow, 5_prompts
Prompt: Sickeningly sweet lemonade
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the Tenth Doctor or Jethro Cane. Please do not sue.

***

"There you are," Jethro said as he set a glass down in front of the Doctor. "I don't usually try to make things like this, but I think it might be worth trying." He sat down at the kitchen table opposite the Time Lord, keeping his gaze fixed on his lover.

The Doctor regarded the glass dubiously; he'd been subjected to Jethro's attempts at cooking before, and he'd long since realized that none of them came out well. Of course, making lemonade couldn't he counted as cooking, though, could it? he asked himself.

Surely it would be impossible for anyone to mess up a simple glass of lemonade! But knowing Jethro's past attempts at making anything that was fit to eat, the Doctor was wary of trying this -- even though it was an easy drink to make.

"You don't want to try it, do you?" Jethro asked, sounding disappointed. "I know that I'm not much of a cook, but I'm sure that this is okay. I didn't taste it, but --" His hand flew to his mouth and his dark eyes widened in consternation.

Reaching out to take the glass, he moved to the kitchen counter, his back to the Doctor. "I forgot to put any sugar in it!" he exclaimed, shaking his head. "Good thing you didn't drink it already. I don't want you to think I was trying to turn your lips inside out!"

"It couldn't be that sour, now could it?" the Doctor objected, feeling a little guilty at his more than obvious reluctance to drink the lemonade. It really couldn't be that bad, he told himself. After all, it was a drink, not something he would have to chew and swallow.

"I don't know," Jethro told him without turning around. The Doctor had no idea what his boyfriend was doing, but he was sure that it had something to do with the sugar bowl that was conspicuously absent from the table.

Was Jethro putting sugar into the lemonade? There was nothing wrong with, of course. If he'd forgotten to put any in before he'd poured it into the glass, then it was probably needed. And the last thing he wanted was to take a gulp of a sour drink.

Turning back to the table, Jethro handed the glass to the Doctor again, a smile on his face. "There. Now it should taste all right. I put some sugar in it, to make sure that it was sweet enough." He watched the Time Lord anxiously, waiting for him to take a sip.

"All right, then," the Doctor murmured, looking at the glass of pale yellow liquid. It couldn't be that bad, really. After all, Jethro had put sugar into it, hadn't he? That would take away any sour taste. It was more than likely quite good.

He raised the glass to his lips, trying to prepare himself for whatever this would taste like. It wasn't going to be possible for Jethro to somehow screw up making something as simple as lemonade, was it? With his boyfriend's lack of kitchen skills, there was no telling.

The Doctor took a gulp of the cold lemonade -- and immediately regretted doing so. It tasted as though he had just swallowed en entire bowl of sugar, and had nothing to wash it down with. It was all he could do to make himself swallow the liquid.

Putting the glass down on the table, he forced himself to lean back in the chair, rather than rushing to the sink for some water. "Jethro, just how much sugar did you put into that lemonade?" he asked, resisting the urge to gasp and trying to make himself speak clearly.

"About four spoons full of it," Jethro told him, reaching for the decanter that was nearly filled with more of the lemonade as he spoke. "I forgot to put any in this --" His dark eyes widened in surprise as he looked at the telltale sugar in the bottom of the clear jug.

The Doctor almost wanted to laugh at the look of dismay on Jethro's face. There had obviously already been quite a good deal of sugar in the lemonade -- and what Jethro had added to his glass had rendered an already sugary drink sickeningly sweet.

"No harm done," he managed to say, trying to keep a straight face. Jethro looked so utterly stricken that he couldn't help but smile. A too-sweet drink wasn't going to kill him -- and now that the worst was behind him, he could see the humor in the situation.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Jethro whispered, his gaze not meeting the Doctor's. "I guess I did put sugar in it -- and I forgot and thought I hadn't. I didn't mean to .... Oh, bloody hell." He fell silent, looking down at his shoes, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"Jethro, anyone can forget that they've done something," the Doctor said in a conciliatory tone. "You don't need to get so upset about it, sweetheart. Just .... be a bit more careful the next time you try to make me something, will you? Try to remember what you're doing."

Jethro nodded, sighing as he picked up the decanter of lemonade. "It's not that bad. Really. I know that I'm terrible in the kitchen, but until I put all of that sugar in it, I think it was good. Next time, I'll let you put your own sugar in any drink that I make."

"Maybe it would have been a good idea to not put more than a spoonful of sugar in it," the Doctor told him, unable to hold back a laugh. "But to be perfectly honest, Jethro, I don't think I want you spending any more time in the kitchen. Not even to make a drink."

"I'm hopeless as a cook, aren't I?" Jethro sighed, finally looking up at the Doctor with the hint of a smile on his lips. "I really am sorry. From now on, I'm going to have to try to pay more attention to what I"m doing instead of concentrating on you."

"That's another subject for another day," the Doctor laughed, sliding an arm around Jethro's waist and leaning in to kiss his boyfriend. Privately, he told himself that there wouldn't be a next time -- at least as far as letting Jethro loose in the kitchen was concerned.

***