The Great Chocolate Snack Cake Debate (ST Voyager, The Closer, Tom Paris, Brenda Leigh Johnson)

[divinemissem13]

Title: The Great Chocolate Snack Cake Debate
Fandom: Star Trek Voyager, The Closer
Pair: Brenda Leigh Johnson/ Tom Paris
Content Warnings: N/A
Prompt: Tom and Brenda get in a ridiculous fight about [choice]

"Tom, what in the hell are these?" Brenda exclaims, bursting into the living room and shaking a box at him.

Tom merely glances away from the TV long enough to register what she's holding and then his focus is back to the Buck Rogers in the Twenty-First Century marathon he found on TV Land. "Your chocolate snack cakes," he answers, a little perturbed that she can't just read the box herself.

"These are Hostess cupcakes. I asked you to get Ding Dongs," Brenda says in a slow and deliberate tone that would make Tom nervous if he were really paying attention.

"They were out. Those are basically the same thing," he shrugs.

"Tooooom," Brenda whines, flopping herself down on the sofa next to him. "They aren't the same thing at all. I can't believe I even have to explain this to you."

Tom tunes her out as she begins extolling the many virtues of Ding Dongs vs Hostess Cupcakes; he really couldn't care less and he's never seen this episode before. She must have realized that he wasn't paying attention because suddenly, she moves to the coffee table, directly blocking his view of the TV.

"Tommy, honey," she says, batting her eyes and pulling out all the stops. "I had a really long day, and the only thing that kept me goin' was knowin' that there were Ding Dongs waitin' for me at home."

Tom sighs and mutes the TV (although he can still see the action over Brenda's shoulder). "You know, I had a long day too. And you know what got me through it? The thought of snuggling in front of the TV while my extremely grateful girlfriend eats her weight in chocolate snack cakes. So I guess neither one of us gets what we want." To punctuate his statement, Tom turns the volume back on, louder than before, and leans onto the arm of the sofa so that Brenda no longer blocks his view.

Tom does his best to ignore Brenda as she stands up and paces back and forth a few times before leaving the room in a huff. Once she's gone he does look down at the unopened box of cupcakes she left behind on the table. He hadn't really looked at them before, assuming that one artificially produced chocolate cake was as good as the next, but as he studies them now, he does actually see what she means. The ratio of cake to cream filling is off and there's no hard chocolate shell surrounding the cake part. The cake would probably crumble if she tried to scoop out the cream the way she likes to do… the way he likes to watch, if he's being perfectly honest.

"Dammit!" Tom curses out loud as he turns off the TV and gets to his feet. He's going to have to go to another store and get her that box of Ding Dongs.

"Just where do you think you're goin'?"

Tom turns to see Brenda, standing in living room doorway. She has changed into pajamas — the tank top covered in strawberries and a pair of Tom's old sweatpants — and her face is rosy and scrubbed clean of make-up and the frustrations of the day, her pout from before now replaced by a mischievous smile.

"I was gonna go find you some Ding Dongs," Tom admits with a slightly sheepish smile.

"I thought we were gonna snuggle on the couch?" Brenda says, crossing the room to drape her arms over Tom's shoulders. "Don't you still wanna snuggle with me?" she teases.

"Of course I do," Tom replies, wrapping his hands around her waist and pulling her in for a gentle kiss. "But I don't want you to starve," he adds with a twinkle in his eye.

A spark ignites in Brenda's warm brown eyes and she leans in to nuzzle Tom's nose. "I can think of some other things to snack on," she says, right into his mouth so that her tongue darts across Tom's lips.

"Brenda," Tom breathes heavily. "Something tells me that neither one of is going to get the night we had planned."

"Are you complaining?" she teases, beginning to nibble on his ear.

"Not at all."