Gilbert was lying in bed, simply staring up at the ceiling, when the door suddenly swung open for the first time in what seemed like forever. Gilbert shot up immediately. There standing in the doorway was Hansel. It must have been snowing outside again because his nose and ears were flushed and snowflakes clung to his dark hair and lashes. As he entered he slipped his cloak off, hanging it up beside the door.

Gilbert looked to him now. “You’ve been gone a really long time,” he said gruffly.

“It’s only been five days.”

Gilbert buried his face in his pillow. “Yeah, well try being alone trapped in a house for that long. I’m going stir crazy.”

Wolves were pack animals. And like it or not, the fact that he had no one around for even just five days had been absolutely awful.

“I’m sorry,” Hansel murmured. “I had some serious business to attend to. Let me make it up to you.” He reached into his basket and pulled out a frilly pink apron, skillfully tying it around his waist. “Do you like cake?”

Gilbert shrugged. “I’ve never had it.”

Hansel’s large eyes grew even wider. “You’ve never had cake!?” He said, agape as if this was the most shocking and tragic news he had ever heard.

“Yeah, what’s the big deal?” He mumbled. “What even is it?”

“YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT CAKE IS!” Hansel fanned himself with one hand looking ready to faint. Gilbert had no idea why he seemed so shocked. Wolves pretty much just fed on whatever scraps they could get their hands on. They had no time for delicacies. “Okay, stay where you are,” Hansel said, “I’m going to make you something really great!”

“It’s not like I can move anyway,” Gilbert grumbled. Hansel skipped off to the kitchen, still wearing his ridiculously frilly apron and almost immediately began mixing ingredients. His hands moved fast with the sharp and meticulous accuracy of someone who had done this countless times before.

Hansel talked almost the entire time he was baking and even more so as he waited for the cake to be finished in the oven. Nothing he was saying was really of any importance for the most part. He talked about anything from the weather to that years strawberry picking season, to even his opinions on the best times of year to get a haircut. Gilbert wondered how it was even possible for someone to jabber on so long about absolutely nothing at all. Then again, after so long alone just listening to another voice was almost comforting. Finally Hansel entered back into the room carrying a slice of his newly made cake thing on a small china plate. He handed it off to Gilbert now.

“Okay,” he said with a smile, “try it and tell me what you think.” He held out a thin silver fork. Reluctantly Gilbert took it, slowly sinking it into the cake and raised it to his lips. Hansel didn’t remove his gaze from him, watching for his reaction expectantly. Gilbert scrunched his eyes closed. This was probably going to be awful. He popped the fork into his mouth and almost immediately his eyes shot open.

This…was the best thing he had ever tasted in his entire life. Gilbert imagined this cake must be what heaven was like. About two seconds after his first bite he practically scarfed down the rest.

Hansel leaned forward, a smile plastered to his angelic face. “So,” he said, “I’m guessing you liked it.”

Gilbert’s eyes were wide. “I...I didn’t know something could taste like that!”

Hansel smiled sweetly. “I’m glad.” His gaze suddenly moved to the door. “I should probably get going soon.”

As he went to stand up Gilbert, despite himself, found himself grabbing for his sleeve. “Wait,” he mumbled.

Hansel blinked. “Yeah?”

“To get here...you keep going back and forth through the forest, right?”

Hansel nodded. “Mmhm.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Gilbert’s gaze darted to the floor. “There’s a lot of other wolves out there, they could hurt you.”

Hansel was staring at him intently. “But here I am sitting right next to a wolf and I’m perfectly fine.”

Gilbert bit his lip. “I don’t think you really understand wolves. You’re safe with me right now but I could still hurt you...even if I didn’t want to. Wolves, we can lose ourselves sometimes and become fully beast both mentally and physically, in fact it’s almost impossible to escape it during a full moon. Once that happens no rhyme or reason can stop us from slaughtering almost everything in sight. The woods are dangerous. You don’t even carry a weapon. If you were attacked you would be dead meat.”

Hansel continued to stare at him with his innocent china doll like face. “I’m not defenseless Gilbert. I promise, if I was ever attacked I would be able to look after myself.”

Gilbert stared at him in disbelief. Who was the kid trying to fool by putting on a brave face? He looked like even a slight breeze could blow him over and on top of that he was just so sickly and small. If a pack of wolves ever found him he would be dead meat. Hansel smiled at him now before suddenly leaning forward to ruffle his hair taking Gilbert by surprise. “Thanks for worrying about me though,” he said softly. “I’ll be back to come check on you as soon. I promise.”

“I wasn’t worrying about you-” Gilbert muttered under his breath, quickly averting his gaze.

Before Gilbert could even finish his sentence Hansel grabbed his basket and cloak and made his way out the door leaving Gilbert staring after him.

Despite himself, something in him made the wolf wish the boy could have stayed, if just for a few minutes longer.