#*walks into b’s kitchen* is this sweet baking or pastry

[aliosne]

I got reminded I was supposed to share this recipe when I was looking for something else. These guys are thin and crispy, more biscuity than cakey. The recipe comes from my maternal great-grandma. Serve them with butter and jam if ya wanna get fancy, but they’re sweet enough on their own.

Grammo’s Scones

2 c all-purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder

2 tsp sugar + extra for dusting

1 tsp salt

1/4 c cold butter

1 c dried currants or raisins

2 eggs

1/3 c cream/milk

Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl. Cut in butter until you achieve a coarse meal texture, then stir in fruit.

Break eggs into bowl, reserving small amount of white. Beat well, add cream, and beat thoroughly to combine. Add to dry ingredients, stirring until mixture leaves the sides of the bowl.

Turn out and knead a few times until dough is smooth. Roll out to 3/4” thick, cut into 3” wide strips, then cut the strips into triangles, like this:

Beat the reserved egg whites until frothy, then brush on top of the scones, sprinkling liberally with sugar. Bake at 425°F for 10-15 minutes.

For all my low impulse control babes, DO NOT TOUCH THE SURFACE OF THE SCONES WHEN THEY COME OUT THE OVEN. DO NOT. DONT JUST TAP UR FINGER ON THERE BC THE SUGAR LOOKS SO YUMMY. S T O P .

[usmsgutterson]

Hello Can you do a Poly one with Nikolai & Zoya fic it can be fluff with prompt 6 ? Where the reader has a crush on them

Recipe Box- poly! zoyalai x gn! reader

okay, hi! First ever poly fic of any kind. I've debated writing poly fics before but I've never actually done it so this was next level nervewracking for me and I hope it's decent.

I'm sorry it took me so long to see the requests you've sent in, things get buried in my inbox really quick and this request was no exception for a bit, but dear nonnie, I hope you like this in spite of how long it took me to get this out!

The prompt you requested was fluff prompt six: “Character A wanted me to give this to you,” Character B said.

Fic type- fluff with so much yearning

Warnings- none

You found yourself laughing at Tamar and Tolyas bickering as the three of you moved through the hallways of the Grand Palace, a discussion picking up and dropping in brief moments as the end of the day drew nearer. 

The time after the war was tough, the adjustments necessary difficult ones to make and the grief for those you’d lost immense and painful. Nikolai plunged into his kingly duties after he was crowned, Zoya took up the creation and the maintenance of her garden, you took to baking and the twins to sparing to sharpen their already sharp skills. 

Tolya and Tamar became members of Nikolais guard, working for him as they’d once worked for Alina and her sun cult. You almost took up a position alongside them, one offered to you by Nikolai after the war, but you refused. Despite it, finding the twins was always easy, striking a conversation with them easier even still.

You’d taken up working in the kitchens, making the menus for the week and putting effort into baking during your off time so that Genya and Zoya could always have the sweet pastries they liked at the drop of a hat and, selfishly, because baking had always been therapeutic for you.

Baking brought you plenty more joy than being on the sea did, but in the days of the war, being on a ship crew meant easy money, and easy money was good enough for you back then, while you worked on the Volkvolny with Nikolai as the captain.

You met Zoya in those times, too, so you wouldn’t’ve counted the war as an entirely dreadful time. You’d fallen for Nikolai when you worked on the ship alongside him, fallen for Zoya as you fought at her side against the Darkling. You had crushes on them for two years, and at that rate, it never seemed like the feelings you held would quite escape you. 

So, as you approached the war room with Tamar and Tolya, you were relaxed. It'd been your day off but you'd baked throughout it even still, and you'd dropped a basket of sweet pastries at Genya and Davids door in the hour before you found yourself where you were, with Tamar and Tolya at your sides as you walked them to the war room before you would either head to your room or to the palace library, where you grab a book and spend the next few nights reading.

Nikolai caught sight of you and grinned as you entered the room.

Tamar elbowed you lightly, shooting you a grin as your gaze met one of the people you’d been in love with for what sometimes felt like a thousand days. 

“Every time,” she whispered. “Him and Zoya. Every bloody time, and still—fools. The lot of you.” 

“Hey,” Nikolai greeted Tolya as you made a point of ignoring Tamars words simply for the fact that you didn’t believe them. “Alls well on the grounds?” 

“No threats waiting to jump out and kill you,” Tamar said pointedly. “Grounds sweep was successful.” 

Nikolai looked at you again, and seemed to remember something. You watched him pause for a moment before turning, picking up a small box and walking it over to you.

“Zoya wanted me to give this to you,” Nikolai said. “You bake in the kitchens a lot. Said it was recipe boxes with stuff you’d talked about.” 

You grinned as you took the box, grin widening as you met his gaze. “Thank you,” you said, turning on your heel. “For delivering it, I suppose. I need to find her, give her my thanks.” 

Nikolai nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Tamar, Tolya and I have much to discuss. I don’t know if I’ll see you again tonight, so goodnight, Y/N.” 

You grinned. “Goodnight, Nikolai,” 

And with that, you left, heart thrumming as you walked down the halls of the Grand Palace, a huge part of you hoping to see Zoya before you retired to your room for the night. 

You ended up not seeing her, but you made a mental note to thank her for the very sweet gift when you would see her the following day, at the end of your shift in the kitchens and likely as she sat by a samovar of tea, either chatting with Genya and David or finding something to bicker about with Tolya or Nikolai. 

It was something to which you looked forward immensely. 

[littlecowmoo]

I love this picture so much

I made an silly story for it

And I know it ain't Valentine's Day, I just wanted to write this story

Gonna ignore the fact it's belphegor—

𝘿𝙤𝙣𝙪𝙩𝙨 ~ 🍩 | 💗

Happy Valentine's day

This year, Beelzebub had a plan for the special holiday of love. Valentine's day. His intentions were not entirely self-serving; no, he had ordered doughnuts, a treat not just for himself but for his dear friend Barbatos. He could already picture the fluffy pastries covered in a glaze as captivating as the flames of the Inferno—he couldn't help but drool to just thinking about them!

“You’ll love them,” Beelzebub murmured, his vision brightening at the thought. “Nothing says love like doughnuts, right?”

───────ೋღ 🍩 ღೋ───────

He made his way towards Madam Screams' bakery—The smell of sweet baked goods wafted through the air as he approached the building, illuminated by the flickering candlelight that danced along its windows.

“Ah! If it isn’t my favorite sin!” she exclaimed, wiping her hands on her apron. “What brings you here on this fine, dreadfully romantic day?”

“Madam Screams!” Beelzebub boomed, his voice resonant yet playful. “I need your finest doughnuts—lots of them! They must be perfect—light, airy, and filled with the sweet essence of... friendship!”

Madam Screams raised an eyebrow, trying to suppress a laugh. “Friendship, you say? Quite the loving intention you’ve got there. A little uncharacteristic, but I’ll humor you. What kind do you want? Glazed? Chocolate? Strawberry? The new ‘Screams of Joy’ special?”

All of them sounded so good and perfect! Barbatos would love them. Beelzebub leaned closer, excitement bubbling within him. “Yes! All of those—” he thought for a moment to think how much he would need. If this was for just himself, he would had ordered at least two dozen, but Barbatos wasn't gonna eat all of that! Maybe an box of seven would do fine.

“Seven. I need a variety to show Barbatos how much I appreciate him!”

Madam Screams clapped her hands together with great glee. “OOOH for Barbatos huh? Well ain't he gonna be lucky. Sit tight; I’ll get to work.”

───────ೋღ 🍩 ღೋ───────

As Beelzebub waited, he gazed around the bakery before looking at the jars of candy on the front table, he couldn't help but dig his hand in a few jars to grab some sweets. He knew Madman scream wasn't gonna have an problem with it much. He went back to watching Madam Screams moved gracefully, her chaotic movements effortlessly creating batches of doughnuts that leaped and tumbled from her countertop into bubbling fryers. It already smelt good.

Beelzebub ate some of the candy he had before Madam Screams interrupted, holding up a stack of freshly glazed doughnuts. “Ready, Beel! A little bit of chaos, a sprinkle of sweetness, and a dash of love—how’s that for a delightful combination?”

Beelzebub took the box with great reverence. His grin widened. “These look magnificent, Madam Screams! Thank you! You’ve outdone yourself.”

“Oh no Problem Beel. Now get going with those and enjoy your Valentines with that butler!”

As he left the bakery, clutching the box of doughnuts, he felt a warmth in his cold, hard heart, almost as if something new was awakening within him. He soared back towards the castle, filled with both determination and a tinge of anxiety.

───────ೋღ 🍩 ღೋ───────

Arriving at the the demon lord's castle, he entered and carefully walked as if walking on fragile glass. The halls were hushed, the torches flickered mysteriously, casting playful shadows. “Barbatos!” He called out, his voice echoing slightly. He expected the butler to respond but there was a stillness in the air that settled on him like a soft blanket. Now where was Barbatos today? Maybe the kitchen.

Beelzebub made his way down the hallways, as he moved closer to the kitchen, the faint aroma of simmering cinnamon and chocolate wafted through the air. He drew closer, suddenly eager to break the silence of the castle and the uneasy weight of his thoughts.

Beelzebub stepped inside, the kitchen was an elaborate affair: wrought iron cauldrons bubbled over open flames, while shelves overflowed with jars of herbs and ingredients unknown to the mortal realm. A vast wooden table lay in the center, strewn with a chaotic assortment of knives and cooking utensils—tools of Barbatos's art. To his surprise, Barbatos was just taken cookies out from the oven. Beelzebub couldn't help but smile to the smell and how delicious they looked. “Barbatos?” he called out—Barbatos turned, the corners of his mouth lifting with a warm smile. He wielded a pair of oven mitts that he soon took off and place down. “Ah, Beelzebub, what beings you here today?

Beelzebub stepped closer, he was about to ask if he could have some cookies..however he had something far more important right now. "I got you something.” He held out the box of doughnuts.

Barbatos turned, his expression unreadable, yet a hint of curiosity glimmered in his eyes as they flicked to the box. “For me?” he asked,

“Well, I wanted—” Beelzebub paused, the words tangling on his tongue before he pressed onward, “I wanted to share them with you in appreciation. It is Valentine’s after all.”

The butler raised an eyebrow, a skeptical smile creeping onto his lips as he opened the box. The different types of flavors wrapping the room in a soft embrace. “Doughnuts? This is a surprise.”

“Rarely do I get such offerings, on an day like this.” There was a playful tone in Barbatos’ response now, his voice as composed as eve. “Try one,” Beelzebub urged, almost shyly.

After a moment of hesitation, Barbatos selected one—a delicate pastry adorned with a swirl of pink icing and sprinkles. He took a crisp bite, and the rich flavor seemed to conjure a smile that broke through his usually composed facade. “Delightfully fluffy,” he remarked, “You should have an treat yourself. Cookie?”

Beelzebub’s lips twitched, a grin breaking through his dark demeanor. “Oh do I,” Beelzebub replied, his confidence blooming alongside new emotions that fluttered within him like butterflies. He reached for a cookie, its surface glistening with melted chocolate chips and a hint of cinnamon. As he bit into it, the sweet warmth enveloped him, creating a melting pot of flavors that danced along his tongue.

“Barbatos they are delicious,” he said, savoring the taste, a flicker of joy igniting in his usually dulcet voice. “You always know how to make the best cookies.”

Barbatos chuckled lightly, delighted to see Beelzebub enjoying his baking as always. “I always do my best with everything, I'm glad you enjoy it much.” Every crumb seemed to taste sweeter when they shared laughter amidst the aroma of baked goods.

“Happy Valentines Day Barbatos,” Beelzebub smile.

───────ೋღ 🍩 ღೋ───────

That's the end of the story! I did my best with the characters, hope anyone enjoys this

[blossominghunnie]

𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞!

Pairing: Yoon Hyunsuk x fem!reader

Genre: Fluff, established relationship, smau + written

Summary: Hyunsuk thinks you couldn’t see him on his birthday, the truth is you’re organizing him a surprise party.

Warning: None

Notes: I finally wrote my bub an imagine. 🤭❤️ Happy b-day to the loml. ❤️

The timer of the oven went off, Y/n put her phone on the kitchen counter and grabbed a towel to take the two molds out.

She stacked them and started decorating. She wrote a ‘Happy Birthday, bubs 🤍’ on the center.

Y/n wasn't a professional baker but liked baking certain pastries since she was a teen. It was a hobby she enjoyed.

When she finished, she placed it carefully on a white box that had a ribbon. She took her bag, phone and car keys and walked out of the door, making sure to lock her apartment.

Then entered the elevator that went to the underground parking lot.

She opened the trunk and put the cake inside.

After that she entered the car, and put her bag on the passengers seat. Y/n connected her phone to the Bluetooth, and Sunshower by Epex started playing.

With that, she began her journey towards her boyfriend's dorm which was only 10 minutes away.

He certainly was gonna be surprised, because the last thing he knew was that she had a huge project she had to submit the next day and that was why she couldn't hang out.

Once she arrived, she parked right in front of the building. She took all of her things and entered the place.

She hopped on the elevator and went up to the 4th floor.

The doors opened and she bounced towards the familiar door. She knocked and a smiley Seunghun opened it.

“Y/n! You’re just on time.” He let her in and took the box.

“Thanks. I’m glad, I thought I was going to be late because of the cake. It took me longer to decorate it than I anticipated.” She set her bag on the couch. “Hi, Gon.” The girl greeted the older as soon as she saw him coming out of the kitchen.

“Hey, Y/nnie.” He smiled at her. “Baejin just told me they’ll be here in 20 minutes.”

“Okaay. Do you guys need help with anything?”

“Not really. We just finished decorating and the food is almost ready.”

“Oh, okay.”

The three of them sat on the living room coach and conversed for a while until Byounggon’s phone dinged.

“They’re on the elevator.”

“I’ll go hide. Don’t snitch on me.” She giggled and pointed playfully at them. Both of her friends laughed and nodded.

She ran to the nearest closet and closed the door just in time for the principal door to open.

“Happy birthday, Hyunsukie!” She heard the boys yell.

“Thanks, guys! What’s all of this?”

“Just as a small surprise party for our sweet maknae.” Gon responded.

“Okaaay.” Hyunsuk thought there was something going on since the leader sounded a little bit nervous and sweeter than usual but brushed it off.

“Come sit, we made your favorite.” Seunghun sounded like a mother, which, honestly, was so cute.

Y/n heard footsteps leaving the area she was in. As she heard chairs being dragged, she thought it was time to come out.

She tiptoed her way towards her boyfriend. Four out of five guys knew of her presence and were trying so hard not to laugh or being suspicious.

She put her hands over his eyes making him smile.

“Hyung, what do you think you’re doing?” He laughed.

“It’s not me, Sukie.” Yonghee giggled.

“Oh. Is it…” He touched her hands. “Y/n?” He sounded confused.

“Maaaybe.”

He turned around and when he saw her his face lit up.

“Sweetie!” He got up and hugged her tightly.

“Hi baby, happy birthday.” She had a fond look on her face.

“Thank you, love.” He still held her. “W-what are you doing here? I thought you had that very important project for tomorrow.”

“There was never a project, bubs. I needed time to make your gift” She didn’t reveal what it was. “And did you really think I wasn’t going to be with you on your birthday?”

“I thought it was weird since we always celebrate it together but understood that you were busy.”

“Oh my god, you’re so precious.” He giggled and turned red. Y/n hugged him tighter.

“I have go get your gift but I don’t want to let you go.” The girl spoke as she looked into his eyes with a pout.

“We can cuddle afterwards, love.”

“Okay, I accept.” They laughed softly.

Hyunsuk stopped holding her and she walked to the kitchen and took the cake out of the fridge.

She looked for candles and a lighter. She placed them on the top and lit them.

She returned to the dinning room with the dessert on her hands, a huge smile on her face. And placed it in front of her boyfriend.

They all sang Happy Birthday to the birthday boy while he thought how lucky he was to have that group of people in his life.

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

Cix masterlist || Main masterlist

[randomoranges]

I posted 1,426 times in 2022

141 posts created (10%)

1,285 posts reblogged (90%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@annundriel

@anthonyandaziraphale

@standardizedbogey

@thisnameisquitequeer

@wrathofthestag

I tagged 815 of my posts in 2022

Only 43% of my posts had no tags

#our flag means death - 301 posts

#étienne maisonneuve - 124 posts

#pc: montreal - 122 posts

#edward murphy - 90 posts

#pc: edmonton - 90 posts

#fic - 62 posts

#good omens - 55 posts

#au - 52 posts

#k attempts to draw - 49 posts

#art - 44 posts

Longest Tag: 135 characters

#and then cal returns only to find his bf in bed with his worst sworn enemy who is clearly also an assassin plotting to kill his beloved

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Yes, the Maisonneuve twins are die hard Backstreet Boys fans

Yes, AJ really did say that at the end of the song

Yes, MTL really did put the Backstreet Boys on the North American map, you're welcome

Yes, B Centre really did give them special Habs jerseys for the encore

Yes, I finally did get to see them perform 20+ yrs later.

10 notes - Posted September 5, 2022

#4

just a little blurb.

teacher au

Sweet Tooth

 Between the two of them, Étienne is the one with the sweet tooth. He likes chocolates and candies and pastries and cookies. For as much as he can go through most of the day without a proper meal, he’ll keep stashes of sweets in his desk drawer and eat them throughout the day. He’s aware that it’s not the best of eating habits, but he also finds it incredibly hard to resist the temptation of sour candies and velvet smooth chocolates and buttery pastries and decadent cookies and such.

 Edward, on the other hand, doesn’t go for that kind of stuff as much. He prefers to make his pastries and cookies – finds that he can duplicate the recipes and save maybe a grand total of fifty-three cents, but he’ll have enjoyed the process. However, he does enjoy the process of baking and if anything, Étienne makes a good tester to have around, even if he is hopeless in the kitchen.

 As it goes, a very popular item to get a teacher during the holidays and even at the end of the school year, is a box of chocolates. There is even a specific brand that markets itself as the perfect gift to say thank you to someone. Étienne, despite being the art teacher, gets his fair share of various chocolates, what with having hundreds of students that he sees over the year. Edward will get more varied presents, but the box of chocolates or sweets or cookies or such will make its way to the pile. Of course, he is always very thankful to the student and makes sure to write a thank you note to the parents. What the student doesn’t need to know is that more often than not, he’ll give the box to Étienne, who will be more than happy to add it to his stash and reserve.

 Edward knows that in the back of the art room, in the storage room, next to the extra paints and above the Bristol boards, there is an entire shelf dedicated to his stashes of sweets.

 He knows, for, on occasion, if the mood strikes him just right, he’ll sneak off to the room and abscond with a candy or chocolate.

 He figures that – they were his first, anyways.

 FIN

10 notes - Posted January 15, 2022

#3

this is an ancient idea.

from rock band au. this takes place yrs later. i am v much aware that i have yet to finish that au and that there are only 2 parts left. shh.

Key Chains

 “I’m home!” Étienne sing songs as he steps into his shared home.

 From further inside, Edward closes his laptop and pushes back his glasses on the top of his head. He grins to himself and walks over to the entrance to greet his boyfriend.

 “Flight okay?” He asks after they exchange a long hug and one of many kisses. Étienne may have been gone for only a little over two weeks, but it certainly felt like much longer.

 “Uneventful. Boring really. Only got recognised once,” Étienne pouts. Edward laughs and helps him out of his jacket, before hanging it up.

 Normally, he manages to show up partway through a tour, or, if anything, he shows up to the airport to pick Étienne up, but for as much as his work sometimes allows him to be there, there are other times when he can’t follow the band to wherever it is they’re playing next. This had been one of such times and so, Edward had stayed behind, while Étienne had gone on tour with the rest of Les Maisonneuves.

 “More importantly, I got something for you!” Étienne tells him excitedly. Edward goes along, far too used to this strange little ritual of theirs, after so many years, and goes back to sit at the table, while Étienne rummages for whatever it is he has to give him. Edward knows already what it’ll be, but this too is part of their game.

 “Close your eyes,” Étienne warns him and Edward complies.

 For as long as they’ve been dating, Étienne has brought him back two items after every tour. He has a collection of them, by now and Edward treasures each and every one of them.

 When Edward is given the go, he opens his eyes to find a neatly folded concert t-shirt placed in front of him. Edward has one from every tour and they’re used for absolutely everything. Some have turned into pyjamas, others are work shirts for when he has things to do around the house, and there are a few he’ll wear out for a casual ensemble.

 Sometimes, Étienne will even steal one from him, which Edward thinks is hilarious. Étienne defends himself saying that it smells like Edward.

 “Oh, this one’s a nice shade of blue. New colour?” Edward asks as he unfolds the shirt, knowing full well that the second item will be inside of it.

 “Yeah, we wanted an update on t-shirt colours. Figured you’d like the change from the others.”

 Edward nods and as expected, he finds six different key chains, from six different cities inside the shirt, each one of them a place where the band had performed at during their latest tour.

 “Aw, I love these; thanks Sweetheart.” Edward rewards him with a kiss and Étienne beams, utterly pleased with himself.

 It started during Étienne’s first tour shortly after they’d started dating. Due to the health restrictions, Edward hadn’t been able to tag along and so, late one night, as they’d been on a video call, Étienne had asked Edward if there was something he could bring him back.

 There wasn’t anything that Edward needed, but Étienne had insisted, and so, in the end, Edward had asked him for a keychain, just to get Étienne off his case.

 Of course, Edward had failed to take into consideration the fact that Étienne never backed away from an opportunity to pull one on him. Therefore, when he’d returned from his tour, Étienne had brought him a keychain from each of the cities he’d played in.

 They weren’t fancy key chains, or even pretty ones. They were slightly tacky, this side of gaudy, but it became a thing – their thing, and soon enough, Edward found himself with a collection of them. Each one had the name of the city, sometimes there were other little ornaments on the ring, and – Edward cherished each and every one.

 When it got to the point that he had amassed quite the collection, Edward made himself a corkboard on which he put up the different key chains. First, there was the one at home, for his home office, then there was the one for his work office.

 “You know, at this rate, I’m going to need another board.” Edward remarks as he observes each keychain in turn. They’re just as spectacularly tacky and gaudy as all the rest and he loves each and every one.

 “Well, you don’t have a board back at our place in Montréal, so, that’s an option.”

 It’s crazy to think that Étienne’s original Montréal place is now their place, but then again – the same can be said about their place here in Edmonton.

 “It’s a good thing the band is still touring, in that case.”

 Étienne grins at the comment and Edward invites his partner to tell him more about his latest tour, even if he’s heard the main points of it over their many calls and text exchanges.

 FIN

11 notes - Posted August 21, 2022

#2

St-Étienne du Bagel

There's a new giant ring downtown.

I had fun taking silly selfies.

I had to then draw this.

11 notes - Posted July 3, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

'Tis the season, 2022 edition

358 notes - Posted October 24, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[guiltswept]

option a - the bakery.

pastries as a gift were meant to be home - baked, crafted by their own hands as they added rosemary to the sweets and almond extract to the savory. a flavor burst experience. but philly was in significant lack of a kitchen to bake in - and she couldn't bake pastries for marjorie in marjorie's own kitchen. that was absurd. she didn't leave the house often these days, though philly tried at least twice a week to stroll alongside her. the fresh air - it's good for the spirit, she would recite to marj. and marj would smile, and then philly would smile too. but it was raining that day - so no walks; just pastries.

"oh," she breathed, blinked once - a slow blink, like a cow's - their gaze landing on murph for a solid thirty seconds before she turned towards the display case. their fingers pressed against the glass, no thought into the smudges that would appear beneath. "the apple cider donut is very delightful, and very seasonal. though it's not very spiced, if you were wanting a spiced apple cider donut. that's not this. i'm not very much into sweets, unfortunately. but i've eaten fifteen warheads in thirty seconds before. the doctors said the damage done to my esophagus was irreversible." maybe it rung true - philly's voice was deep and hoarse, like a pile of leaves in the autumn. "the matcha donut is also very subtle. i quite enjoy green tea, though i wish it were greener. do you agree?"

omg is that - OPTION B?? O'SHEA'S??

with a guitar case slung over their shoulder - gabe walked in the widest strides they could manage to o'shea's. clem was working tonight - at least, gabe thought she was - and she was his favorite bartender ( also one of his bestest friends, but potato potato ); and tonight would be the night that they finally convinced her to let them play wonderwall nonstop for the next three hours until the patrons booed them out of the pub altogether. they were so sure it could happen - so confident - they genuinely looked a little less decrepit. like maybe they slept well for once. like maybe they hadn't stayed up all night watching silent hill and silent hill 2 playthroughs and then two video essays afterwards. caffeine was a beautiful thing; almost better than poppers.

then they turned the corner. gabe yelped - then squawked, then sputtered as he coughed and spat. it was an over - exaggeration; how many times had gabe willingly exchanged smoke with another? too many. but they were - caught off guard, surprised - it went down the wrong pipes. it wasn't his favorite brand of cigarettes. they knelt over, hands pressing firm against their knees as the guitar case strapped against their back lurched forward and attempted to behead them like marie antoinette. gabe would not be eating their wonderwall cake. they collapsed onto the sidewalk - still, an over - exaggeration - but it felt real in the moment. "oh - christ - fuck - christ." several long - strings of swears. " - fuck - did you put it out? you put out the cigarette?" gabe choked back tears and phlegm as they looked up at murph with wet, sad eyes. "you didn't even offer it to me in consolation for invading my nostrils with your - air germs? that's -" another cough, somehow even sadder, "- so fucked, dude. sooo fucked. i would've taken it - i'm out of camels."

WHO: open! ( @bluestarters )

option a WHERE: crave & co.

Murph's sweet tooth was out with a vengeance today, the sugary goodness wafting through the doors of Crave & Co luring him inside. A wall of pastries and croissants, danishes and donuts greeted him, and he found himself immediately succumbing to decision paralysis. Asking for one of everything was just sad because he knew exactly what he'd do. He'd lug the boxes home, plop down on his couch, put on Schitt's Creek for the thirty-seventh time, and eat every single one.

No, he couldn't do that. Being out in sweats was sad enough.

So, instead, he turned back to the person who had formed a line behind him, unwittingly putting pressure on him to make a decision and make it fast. "Hey, hi, sorry to bother you, but I'm sort of feeling like this is probably how parents feel when they're asked to pick a favorite child, and I'm genuinely afraid that my lack of self control is going to make me walk out of here with one of everything. So, can I just ask what you'd recommend?"

option b WHERE: outside of o'sheas

God, putting himself out there and meeting new people was hard. He'd sat with a beer for a while trying to work up the nerve to just toss himself into the deep end. But then he started thinking about the whole moving on aspect of this moving on phase of his life, and he found himself outside, a cool fall breeze teasing his hair as he slid a cigarette between his lips.

He'd never been much of a smoker— socially, occasionally, and usually only after he'd been drinking— but he had a lot of space to fill in his day to day now and he was still figuring out what things fit. So for the time being, he was going to indulge in this nasty habit because it made him feel better for a couple of minutes.

He took a drag as he turned the corner, exhaling a cloud of smoke almost directly in the face of someone he hadn't seen until it was too late. Immediately horrified, Murph yanked the cigarette out of his mouth and stomped it out. "Holy shit, I'm so sorry. Are you okay? I can light it back up for you if you wanna get even or something."

[averagesadperson]

Back in Town

Cole Brookstone x Gn! Reader

~

Synopsis: You work in a small town bakery and when a man you recognize as your childhood friend stumbles in, you end up spilling some held in feelings.

~

Notes: Uhm, so- I started writing this but then I realized I’m sad today so this got a lot more self indulge-y then I meant it to be. sorry, but also not? but sorry if its a little all over the place. whoops. I tried to make it Gn, please let me know if I made any mistakes!

and uh,, 2k words?? what did I do

~

~

The scent of carrot cake wafted from the oven. Pulling on the bubblegum pink store-branded oven mitts, you pulled the dessert out and set it onto a cooling rack in the fridge that you had set out earlier. Turning off the oven with a ‘beep!’ you took the mitts off, set them into the drawer, and shut it with your hip as you walk past. They were cute, pink with white accents, along with almost everything else in the store. 

Your ‘uniform’ consisted of latex gloves, a frilly apron, a mask, and a bandana covering your hair; all of which were the same shade of pink. The apron had patches of other colours and fabrics from where you’d sewn it when it ripped a few months back.

This was pretty routine for you, having been working in this bakery for years now. Your mother started it originally as a small passion project when you were still in high school, but people loved it so much that she ended up renting an old, homely store and the rest is history. You eventually mastered the skill of baking, learning how to make complex pastries, delicious filling, fluffy bread, moist cake, and more. Trial and error had kicked your ass more than once, but thankfully your customers were kind enough to let it slide.

You sighed, shaking your head as you stepped up to the counter. On it was various decorating tools laid out, along with bowls of white icing and food colouring of black, purple, and blue that still needed to be mixed. An order from one of your oldest customers, a sweet older woman with a plethora of grandchildren who, who woulda guessed, had birthdays. It was a lot of work, but hey, she tipped well.

You pulled your rubber gloves on, but before you could jump into it, the sound of the bell above the front door ringing caught your attention. Tightening your apron and walking out of the kitchen and behind the old wooden counter, you saw a young man with black hair browsing the treats behind the glass. He had a hand up to his mouth and his eyes were narrowed as if he was making the most important decision of his life. He reminded you of a boy you knew as a child, he left town a handful of years back, but when you first saw this guy you swore he looked just like-

“Cole?!” 

The man’s head snapped up at the shrill of your voice, your jaw dropped in astonishment. His eyebrows furrowed and you saw his eyes rack your visible features, trying to remember if he’d met you before. At his confusion you remembered your mask, quickly raising your hands to rip the fabric from your mouth.

“Cole! It’s me, Y/N.” you said with a giddy smile on your lips, subtly leaning over the counter towards him. Cole’s eyes widened and he let out a gasp of shock at seeing you.

“Oh my god! Y/N, it’s so good to see you!” you giddily ran over to the removable countertop, quickly flipping it open and running over to the taller man who you haven't seen in years. He opened his arms and you jumped, wrapping your arms around his neck and resting your head on his shoulder, his arms circling your waist, fingers playing with the bow of your apron strings.

“I haven't seen you in forever, Dummy! I didn't know you were back in town.” the smile refused to fall from your lips. Cole was one of your best friends back in high school, you had a stupid big crush on him too, you two shared classes and would go over to each other houses almost daily, though it was usually him coming over to yours.

He chuckled lightly, shaking his head, making his soft bangs swish side to side. “I wasn't, this is my first day back here.”

“Well then,” you let him go, walking over to the front door, flipping the sign over so it now displayed ‘closed!’. “I guess it's fate you just so happened to come to this bakery then, huh?” you said with a playful smile, ignoring his ‘hey, it's a small town’. 

You grabbed him by the hand and led him over to one of the bigger booths. “Here, come, we need to catch up.”

Once you two sat across from each other he leaned back in his chair and turned to you, “Okay, so what's been up with you? Surely a lot based on the new ‘baker’ status you seem to have.”

You laughed, resting your elbows on the table, leaning in closer. “Well, I'm in college now, nothing too fancy, just a few days a week.”

“Really? That's awesome! I’m glad you got there eventually.” his smile and the genuine look of happiness in his eyes made your insides twist, whether it be in glee or something else, you couldn't tell.

“Yeah, me too. Oh! I talked to your dad a week or so ago.” you giggled at his exaggerated eye roll. “He still thinks you go to MOPPA, you think you're ever gonna tell ‘em?”

He groaned, rubbing a hand at his neck and avoiding your gaze. “I dunno, his whole obsession with his dancing and Royal Blacksmiths is just… y’know..?”

You set a hand on his arm making him look back at you. You met his eyes with a gentle smile and an as understanding look as you could muster. “I get it, Cole, I do. But I still think you need to tell him eventually. He’s your dad and he loves you, don't waste that.” he’s silent for a moment before he speaks again.

“Anyway, you're just now getting into schooling? I thought you wanted to go ‘far, far away’ for college straight out of high school?” you flushed from his recounting of your childish words from one underage drunken night, but went along with it and let him change the subject without a fight.

“Ah, yeah, when I started in mom’s bakery I had to learn all the recipes pretty quick, so that took up the majority of my time. I barely had any time for anything but sugar.” 

“Oh, yeah! I’m surprised your mom changed the style.” your heart sunk. “She really liked that old, rustic vibe she had going.”

The smile slowly slipped from your face but Cole didn't notice, he was busy looking around the decor of the shop. “Yeah, well, times change, I guess.”

“Hm, I guess so. Say, how is your mom doing? I’d love to see her again..” he trailed off when he turned back to you, seeing the look on your face. Cole's stomach dropped, dreading what that look meant and what you were about to tell him.

“Oh, she, uhm. Mom.. passed… a few years ago. It's just been me for a bit.” Cole set a gentle hand on your shoulder, rubbing your arm soothingly as your eyes started to water. Your father had died when you were young, leaving only you and your mother. Not long after Cole left town, your mother got sick and died quickly after. You neglected to mention her sickness to your old friend, knowing of his own mother's fate. Despite them not being the same illness, you knew it would upset him more.

“Your dad was pretty helpful, y’know. Let me stay with him until I got everything sorted.” your voice cracked and you raised a hand to rub at your eyes before any tears could fall.

“Why… why didn't you tell me?” he said in a gentle voice, it was comforting.

“Well, I didn't really know how to find you, Cole.” he winced, opening his mouth to either refute you or apologize, you didn't know but spoke over him. “It's true, you just…left, Cole. As happy as I am to see you now, I… I was really lonely.” you quickly rushed to reassure him, waving your hands in front of you to cover your reddening cheeks.

“Not to say it's your fault or anything! You left for a reason, I know that, and I don't blame you. I covered for you with your dad because I know you must've had a good reason. I just… I missed you, Cole. A lot.” you sniffled, looking at your hands that rested in your lap. You were both silent for a while until you heard fabric shift and felt Cole slide into the booth beside you.

You felt him hesitate to touch you, so you leaned in, laying against him with your head on his shoulder. You could feel him breathing beneath you and he wrapped his arm around you and pulled you in closer.

It felt… nice.

It was a relief to see him again after all those years. The months of crying yourself to sleep after he left, the temptation to send a letter, the guilt of not telling him, you could feel it all melting off your shoulders as you both sat there in silence together.

“I know I could have sent you a letter, but you barely respond to your father. I didn't want to bother you or distract you with something like that. I didn't know what you were doing, still don’t, it could be really important.”

“You’re also important, you know that right?” your breath hitched at his words. 

“That's not what I-”

“Doesn't matter. You’re important to me, Y/N. You were like, my only real friend for years and I would have dropped anything if you said you needed help. You were never, and will never be a bother to me, especially with something like that.” he placed his fingers under your chin and tilted your head to look at him. Your eyes widened when you saw his coal-black ones were watering. Your hand clutched the fabric of his shirt as he brought you into a crushing hug.

“I’m so, so sorry you thought otherwise and I'm sorry I haven't sent letters either. I've been..” he chuckled sadly. “Very preoccupied, but I never forgot about you.”

“I really missed you. I’m glad you're back, Cole.”

“..I missed you too.”

~~~

Eventually, it got dark and, after both your tears had dried, Cole had politely excused himself. You offered him a place to stay with you above the shop for the night, but he said he and his friends already had a hotel and they would get worried if he didn't show up. When you said your goodbyes, you sent him on his way with a bag filled with the best of the best of your sugary treats.

“Oh, before you go, why don't you take a to-go bag?” you stepped behind the counter, sliding open the glass panel and choosing snacks you think he’d like best.

“Well, I won't say no to that.” he stepped up to the counter with a chuckle and you saw him dig around in his pocket before you stop him.

“Hey, no, it's on the house. No complaints.” you filled the paper bag, folding the edge and handing it to him.

“You sure?” you nodded with a smile as you walked him to the door, linking your arm with his. “Well, we’ll be in town for a bit so if you wanted to meet up for a bit tomorrow?”

“Mhm! I do have to finish an order but I’ll probably be free after one or so? Wanna meet at the center fountain?” you pushed open the door, the bell chiming in the background.

He agreed, wrapping his arms around you one last time for the night and you reciprocated, patting his back lightly.

“Bye, Y/N.” he walked out the door and when he turned to wave back at you, you lifted to your tiptoes, resting a hand on his cheek and pulling him down to you.

The setting sun cast a beautiful glow against his skin, making his eyes shimmer. You closed your eyes and pecked his cheek, letting him go soon after.

“See ‘ya, Cole.” You waved at him with pink cheeks, turning back and softly closing the door. You saw him gently touch his cheek with a smile before he turns and walks into the warm summer air. You watched him walk down the street before he eventually turned the corner out of your view.

You sighed, crossing your arms, locking the door, and walking back to the kitchen to pack up. You’d finish your orders in the morning, but tonight you dragged yourself upstairs and into your bed. You wrapped yourself in blankets, tears springing to your eyes. You had dreamed of seeing Cole again countless times before. When you were kids, everything was fine, everything was perfect. But then he left, and things fell apart. 

But now? Cole was back.

Maybe not back in town forever, but back in your life.

[nanatsumu]

HIGH SCHOOL!SUKUNA x F!READER

thinking about bad boy itadori sukuna who all the kids at school try to steer clear from because they know he’s bad news and if you get involved with him then you’re bound to be tied with bad luck for as long as he lives. well, that is everyone except for the president of the student council who so happens to be his childhood best friend turned lover.

this is mostly written for my own self indulgence and to project my fantasies of having a boyfriend onto sukuna but feel free to treat this as any other headcanon! ps i am pretty sure canon sukuna would kill a baby at any given situation, but this is going to be a revamped version of sukuna written by yours truly ;) and its a high school au so sukuna won’t be a complete menace to society and will actually have a heart heh

also i didn’t realize how long this was going to be??? this is kind of all over place too because i just wanted to throw all of my thoughts onto this post so there might be some plot holes in this LOL

i feel like sukuna would be the type of bad boy who isn’t necessarily a bad boy but everyone at school just paints him as some kind of delinquent because of all the tattoos and piercings he has.

he actually shows up to school more often than you think he would (but that’s only because you’re in most of his classes so long story short: you’re his only motivation for attending class)

“forgets” to bring his work books to class more than usual (in reality he does this on purpose so he has an excuse to be near you) so he requests to sit next to you the entire class period so he can share with you for the meantime but whenever the teachers not looking he’ll go back to admiring your face.

his older twin brother, itadori yuji, is very fond of you since you three grew up together and you both had your chances of being a victim to his antics!

exhibit a: in middle school when you and yuji were watching tv together, the show you two were watching would keep switching to some wrestling match broadcasting on a sports channel and no matter how many times you turned the tv on and off, it just would not stop. but it wasn’t until you heard snickering from the kitchen that you realized sukuna had a spare remote and was the mastermind behind the whole thing.

exhibit b: sukuna and yuji’s mom was the owner of a bakery so every now and then she would have either one of the twins come deliver freshly baked pastries to your household! oh how wrong was she to trust her youngest. sukuna was now a freshman in high school, and by now you would’ve thought that sukuna would have grown out of his childish phase, but WRONG! sukuna was still a menace in your life even past childhood. so when you bit into one of the macaroons, instead of being hit with the overwhelming taste of [favorite flavor], all you could feel was the burning sensation of wasabi kicking into your tastebuds.

yeah after the whole wasabi macaroon freak accident, you stopped accepting everything sukuna offered to you and opted to only eating pastries out of the boxes that yuji delivered to you. (sukuna eventually caught onto this and was just TEENSY bit upset but he would rather down a whole tube of wasabi than to tell you upfront)

now, how did you two even end up dating??? oh boy now that is a story

you see, yours and sukuna’s dynamic growing up was similar to that of tom and jerry’s— you being jerry and sukuna being 10x worse than tom of course

but it wasn’t until a confession after school behind the cherry blossom tree that was known for bringing good luck to successful confessions that sukuna finally realized that maybe he really did like you just a little lot bit

sukuna overheard the boy who was planning on confessing to you talking to his friend group about how “sweet and caring” you are (although sukuna could argue otherwise, you were a little brat. *LIKE HELLO?!&:&:& YOU WEREN’T THE ONE WHO ATE A MACAROON FILLED WASABI**) and obviously his ears perked up at the mention of your name. he grew up with you after all so naturally he would be interested in a conversation that revolved around you.

but then the boys started going on about how “you looked like an easy catch” and how “your body was bangin’!” yeah no, that’s where he drew the line. sure sukuna was an ass and talked shit about you most of the time (in his defense it wasn’t like he was doing it behind your back) but if he ever caught someone else talking about you like that then he would be sure to give them a hard time.

he hid behind one of the bushes near the cherry blossom tree while the boy was professing his love for you. funnily enough, for a moment sukuna forgot why he was originally there because he was too busy trying to stifle a laugh as he watched the boy stumble over his words.

“okay shows over” sukuna thought as the confession was reaching its conclusion, but just as he was about to step in and give the poor boy a piece of his mind, he stopped in his tracks when he heard you roaring with laughter.

“did you really think that i wouldn’t hear about what you and your friends said about me earlier? you’re really pathetic if you think any girl would be easy enough to fall to her knees for you because news flash! you’re a disgusting pig and you deserve to rot in hell for speaking about a girl’s worth like that.”

“it’s kind of sad too, i thought you were a nice boy and i probably would have given you a chance but it seems like you’re even worse than scum! damn it, to think there was somebody out there who’s even worse than sukuna.”

of course sukuna was not pleased to hear that last bit, but he did have a proud grin forming on his face as he watched the boy run away, flustered from your rejection and the embarrassment he was put through.

“sukuna i know you’re hiding behind the bush.”

“huh? i came here way before you got here, there’s no way you could have seen me.” he said as he stood up to his full height.

“well, your laughter isn’t exactly the quietest, plus i can spot that hair of yours from a mile away.”

lets just say, sukuna was glad you didn’t ask him what he was doing there because he wasn’t sure if he could spare the embarrassment of telling you that he was planning on ruining the confession.

after that whole fiasco happened, sukuna started to feel(!&:&::&) things

like he started to notice how you styled your hair differently one day and how you switched to a new perfume that smelled like spearmint (was that weird? for sukuna probably not. he just excuses it as being highly observant)

you weren’t dumb either, you had a feeling sukuna was there that day of the confession because he too had overheard the conversation between the boy and his friends as well (you knew he was prideful and if you brought it up then he probably would’ve denied it)

so from there on out it was just mutual pining at the point except... well.... not really??

i feel like it was just an unspoken agreement between you two that you guys were “together” but not “together together” because he started to treat you differently than he would before. like for example, he’d carry your bag for you whenever you guys would walk home (yuji was confused by this at first because if anything, it would have made more sense to see sukuna make you carry HIS bag, but he eventually caught on to sukuna’s feelings for you because they were twin brothers after all), he started walking you to class more often even though his class was all the way on the other side of the school (you asked him why but he just shrugged and said he was just “killing time” so that he wouldn’t have to go to class and then you ended up scolding him), and there was also that one time you miraculously found a $20 bill in your backpack after mentioning to sukuna that there was this cute top you saw at the mall the other day but didn’t have enough money at the time to purchase it (you asked him about this but he said it was probably yuji, but you didn’t want to pry any further since you wanted to cherish the fact that sukuna cared that much)

but eventually you got sick of this whole push and pull game that you physically had to tug the collar of his school uniform and pull him in for a kiss (he was visibly shocked at this because he never would’ve imagined you as the assertive type. not that he was complaining though)

“oya? didn’t think you liked me this much kitten.” he said laughing while you rolled your eyes.

“as if, i got tired of you being a wuss so one of us had to wear the pants in the relationship.” you snorted, causing him to irk.

to be honest, your relationship with him is smooth sailing because you both were pretty chill people and you didn’t have to worry about him sneaking behind your back to see other girls because 1. literally all the girls at school are terrified of him and 2. he knew what you were capable of doing to him if you were to ever catch him cheating on you so he wants to stay on your good side

jealous and possessive don’t exist in his dictionary because he is the epitome of those two words. remember what i said about how your relationship is smooth sailing? i kinda lied.

he’s easily jealous like for example: when you were in english class and the teacher had you guys jot down some notes, you realized you forgot to ask for your pencil back when you lent it to your friend last period.

so you asked sukuna to borrow a pencil but instead of giving you a pencil, he called you an idiot for being so forgetful.

this makes you mad so you turn to your male classmate since he was sitting on your opposite side and ask him for a pencil instead.

sukuna was practically fuming the entire class period and once the day ended and you two were back at your place, he made sure to mark you real good. (oh he also went out to buy a pack of mechanical pencils to sneak into your backpack so that next time you forget your pencils, you’ll have 10 extra pencils sitting in your backpack as backup)

he’s not a big fan of pda in public, but on the chances he will show some of it, the most he will do is wrap an arm around your shoulder or waist whenever some dude is trying to hit on you.

BUT IN PRIVATE? better buckle up because your in for a ride wink wink

really likes putting hickeys on you to a fault! but will never put any visible ones on your neck because he doesn’t want your parents to view him as some kind of animal (but he has nothing to worry about because your parents really like him and are grateful for the fact that he’s very loyal to you, and you guys grew up together so it’s only natural that your parents are accepting of him since they already know he has a good heart underneath that tough facade of his)

oh, and yuji starts learning how to knock whenever you come over (or shuts himself in his room for the meantime if he thinks it’s unsafe to step out of his room) because chances are, you’re probably making out with sukuna in his room or smth.

now onto the spicy stuff

when you and sukuna first started dating, the first thing you told him was that you weren’t ready to have sex yet because you were nervous and sukuna understood and told you that he was willing to wait for whenever you were ready.

but when you were ready though, it was kind of spontaneous and you weren’t even wearing a matching pair of bra and underwear that day

you two were chilling in your room watching some stupid (according to sukuna) animal documentary when suddenly you felt his hand on your thigh

dating sukuna and all, it was normal for him to have his hands on some part of your body (whether it be your thigh or your waist) while you two were in bed.

but you were feeling a bit bolder HORNEE than usual so you began to leave a hot trail of kisses starting from his jaw all the way down to his neck.

sukuna obviously got the memo but before those kisses could escalate into something more daring, he asked you once more if you were completely sure you wanted to do it and once you gave him the green light, he was quick to tug his shirt over his head and pounce on you.

he started getting really into it though and accidentally bit your thigh which made you loose your high and scold him for it, but he let out a hearty laugh and muttered a quick apology before getting back into business

sike i lied, remember what i said about it being spontaneous? yeah, you technically didn’t loose your virginity to him that day because after he finished prepping you, you both came to a realization that you didn’t have a condom.

oh well, there’s always next time!

i think sukuna is a sucker for pet names: his favorite thing to call you is either kitten or princess and that’s it LOL he finds calling you baby or babe is a bit too cheesy for him

but he likes it when you call him baby or babe ;)

date nights consist of either staying in and cuddling in his room, going out for a walk at night (but very very late though. there’s still lamp posts that guide your way through the streets but it gives you the heebie jeebies to be out walking outside so late. sukuna always reminds you that nothing bad will happen as long as he’s right by your side), or just spending time with you and your families.

but if you’re really down to do it, he’ll probably initiate a make out session that’ll lead to y’all fucking one way or another (he only ever does it if he is 100% sure that you’re feeling it because he knows you get easily embarrassed if he asks you straight up)

(this part is mainly written for me because i love the idea of sukuna being over at family functions, but it can be applied as part of the general hc heh) if you took him to any of your family functions as your plus one for the first time, all the aunts and uncles would be a bit wary of him at first due to all of the tattoos and piercings he has (sukuna swears he has never felt so self conscious before) but after they strike up a conversation with him and find out that he’s actually a good guy who knows what he wants to do in the future and is very loyal to you, they start to like him more.

your little cousins adore him and love it when he comes over because sukuna is a very tall high schooler which makes him the perfect candidate as a monkey bar

so when you noticed that all the little ones started to climb on his body and mess around with his hair, you were quick to react because you knew your boyfriend was easily irritable which prompted you to think he hated kids

but there was nothing to worry about because when you saw him playing around with them and even crack a smile, you felt your heart grow fuzzy at the sight and you knew right then and there that you wanted to stick by sukuna’s side for the rest of your life

and in the unfortunate circumstances that sukuna is too busy to make it to one of your functions, the first thing everyone asks is “where’s your boyfriend?” or “where’s ‘kuna? i wanna play with him!”

so you have to facetime him and let him know that everyone is wondering where he is (your phone is dead by the end of the night because after the adults get their turn at saying hi to your boyfriend, the kids snatch your phone and end up talking to him for the rest of the night)

but in conclusion, everyone is waiting for the day he gets on one knee to propose to you and your parents are itching to get to get call sukuna their son-in-law :))

also don’t forget that your parents want two grandchildren: one boy and one girl!

[batlingsstuff]

|| DREAM SMP HEADCANONS ||

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

hello! this is my first time doing headcanons, and i just want to clarify some things:

sadly, i won't be doing requests because i'm busy af with school and i dont want to dissapoint anyone, but you can drop some suggestions and i would think about it! it would be really nice :)

also i won't be writing romantic headcanons for minors or those who are uncomfortable with it, but i can do platonic headcanons for them! ^^

i won't be doing nsfw headcanons either, because i'm uncomfy with sexualizing real people and just writing nsfw in general :)

also, please tell me if someone is uncomfortable with fanfics and/or headcanons and i will erase that part as fast as possible, thanks for passing by! - batling

✦ means platonic

✦ characters : ranboo, tubbo, tommy, philza, techno and jschlatt

♥ means romantic

♥ characters: quackity, wilbur, nihachu, dream, george, sapnap, eret, karl, fundy and bbh

keywords:

(y/n) : your name

(n/n) : nickname

(p/p) : pizza place

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

“As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.” – John Green

┌────── ⋆⋅✦⋅⋆ ──────┐

SLEEPOVERS

---

GENDER NEUTRAL

└────── ⋆⋅✦⋅⋆ ──────┘

♥ Quackity

oh boy

i just have two words for this one: pure chaos

he will punch you with a pillow if you try to sleep

and you will be MAD at this

grabbing a pillow and hitting him RIGHT IN THE FACE with all your strenght

he'll probably fake cry about it, saying that you hurt him

after a while of pillow fighting, you guys got tired and plopped into the bed, snuggling into eachother and just enyoing the comfortable silence before drifting to sleep

♥ Wilbur

you two will probably blast hamilton and scream the lyrics till the neighbours wake up and you get angry knocks at your door

and you will laugh at that, lowering the speaker's volume and telling him to lower his voice aswell to avoid your neighbours calling the police

then you'll eat snacks and talk about anything that pops into your mind, laughing at the most silly jokes

he will sing sweet songs to you, making you fall asleep to his calming voice

summary: fluff

♥ Nihachu

you and her will bake pastries at a very late hour

she REALLY enjoys baking with you bc she thinks it's a great way to spend time with you

all this girl wants is to spend her time by your side, doing particularlly anything like streaming, baking, playing games and going outside for a walk and/or shopping

once you finished baking, she will kiss your cheek multiple times. that's her way to tell you that you did a great job :)

you'll spend the rest of the night cuddling, eating your pastries and watching some random movie, commenting about how bad it is and laughing

♥ Dream

bruh

this bitch will speedrun the sleepover

is it possible to speedrun a sleepover? maybe

you'll spend the rest of the night probably playing uncharted 3: drake's deception in his old ps3

after a while, you guys got bored from uncharted and went to his pc to play amnesia: the dark descent

there are 2 options:

you will be scared as fuck and will avoid looking at the screen when you think something bad will happen or when some body will come out from a drawer

or you will be totally chill with it, laughing hard when clay pisses his pants for real when he encounters the gatherer

you named the gatherer 'bob' :)

♥ George

he'll take you to the rooftop

and pushes you so you fall to your death

i mean

he gets blankets and pillows so you can stargaze together

he'll teach you the constelations while pointing them, excited about every single one of them

"look (y/n), that's the ursa major!"

he'll have hot chocolate prepared too, so you don't get cold while stargazing

you try your best to not fall asleep on the rooftop

but eventually fail

when he notices you're asleep, he stops talking about the constellations and carries you to your bedroom, giving you a goodnight kiss and leaving you in your bed so you can have a peaceful rest

♥ Sapnap

hey mamas

i don't know what sapnap will do in a sleepover so i will just improvise B)

you will watch anime together

not any kind of anime, like that romance-comedy bullcrap

no fuck that

you will watch the classy angsty anime like madoka magica

WATCH IT IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY

you will fucking cry because of literally anything that happens to the characters

"(y/n) why are you crying it's just a show"

'IT'S NOT ANY SHOW SAPNAP IT'S FUCKING MADOKA MAGICA OF COURSE I'M GOING TO CRY'

the last chapter made you fucking cry harder

AUTHOR HERE I WAS CRYING SO MUCH WHEN IT ENDED

yeah you will basically watch anime with him, cry about it and he will comfort you and bring you a glass of water so you don't have a terrible headache after it

I KNOW THIS HEADCANON SUCKED I'M SO SORRY

♥ Eret

KINGG <3

you two will plan a picnic in your yard

yes your yard

he'll bring a ton of snacks and you'll buy a few drinks

you two spend the rest of the picnic talking about your future and enjoying the snacks

then, he'll make you stand up and will teach you how to dance tango

and of course you will mess everything up

and you even stomped on his feet accidentally, making him wimper

but he brushed off the pain and laughed at your concerned face

after calming down his laughter, he gave you a passionate kiss and hugged you tightly

i love eret ok

♥ Karl Jacobs

this man.

this man is the definition of sweet

you'll spend the night cuddling and making cute pet names for eachother

he will definetely give you a great back massage if you're stressed

then he'll start writing love letters full of things he adore of you

and you'll do the same for him

after that, you will share your letters and just snuggle and smile at the sweet things you guys wrote for eachother

he will deffo shower you with kisses when he finishes reading your letter, telling you that you're the nicest person on earth

and that he loves you so so much

♥ Fundy

i'm a huge fundy simp ok

he will bring his piano to your house and you guys will compose a melody together

he will let you sit on his lap while you play the piano/keyboard with him

fundy will basically teach you how to play basic piano songs

you asked him if you guys could play megalovania together

he said no :(

but still you got to play nice songs together without messing up

and when you got the hang of it, he snuggled his face in your neck and kissed you there genly

and when you got tired, he started playing very calming songs and you fell asleep in his lap, snuggling into his chest

he gently carried to your room and will sleep beside you putting a fair distance so you can have a comfortable sleep!

♥ BadBoyHalo

bbh supremacy

he will get rat ready so you can snuggle with her too :)

you guys will mainly play with rat and talk about life in general

he will call you tons of cute pet names

ofc he will call you muffin it's bbh who we're talking about

he will talk about how bad he wants to spend the rest of his life with you

after a while, he will take you to his kitchen and start making muffins together

he will guide you on how to bake 'em though

you guys had a great time making muffins and cuddling with him and rat :)

══════ ∘◦❀◦∘ ══════

✦ Ranboo

tall mf gives the best piggy back rides

when he gets to your house there is a 100% chance he will bump his head on the door frame

and there is a 100% chance you will make fun of him because of that

"(y/n) please stop laughing my head hurts :("

you'll give him some ice to put on his head while you two play minecraft on your ps4

you will bring snacks too and ask him if his head is better

"yeah, thank you (n/n)"

he will pull you in a hug so you can be comfy together while you play good ol' minecraft

because ranboo surely doesn't play anything besides fucking minecraft

stfu that video of him playing spooky's jump scare mansion doesn't exist

✦ Tubbo

SWEET BE BOYY <3

he will gift you a bee plushie

expect a lot of (FRIENDLY) hugs from him

like fundy, you guys will play piano together

you guys are most likely to prank call some random numbers AND your friends

and you accidentally called some random pizza place

"hello! this is (p/p), may i take your order?"

you were nervous and didn't know what to say

UNTIL YOU CAME UP WITH A GREAT IDEA

"hello? are you there?"

'hi yes, i would like to order 7 extra large pepperoni pizzas to (tommy's adress).'

"oh- okay! uhm- they will arrive in a few hours. are you okay with that?"

'yes ma'am, thank you.'

when you ended the call, you couldn't help but burst out laughing, knowing that tommy will be so mad at you guys-

✦ Tommy

like quackity, PURE. CHAOS.

you guys will obviously stream your sleepover

doing a q&a stream :)

tubbo and wilbur will probably crash your stream and start spamming things like 'MEETUP??' and 'DIDN'T GET AN INVITE'

you guys laughed and added them to the call

"WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU GUYS INVITE ME?" wilbur shouted

'i'm sorry willlll'

you kept playing minecraft with wilbur, tubbo and quackity too since he crashed your stream like an hour later

after the stream, you got up and plopped on the mattress that was on the floor

"tired?"

'yeah'

"okay, good night big (initial)"

✦ Philza

POG

YEAHHH SLEEPOVER WITH THE MINECRAFT GOD

AND KRISTIN'S THERE TOO :)))

and oh god you ADORE kristin

i'm pretty sure she's a total sweetheart

it would be like having a sleepover with your parents

only that it's less boring

you guys will watch a movie together, you will be in one side of the couch eating snacks while phil and kristin are in the other cuddling

you'll eventually bug them about it

after the movie, you fell asleep early and philza noticed, talking to kristin about it too

and wrapped a blanket around you so that you get a good rest :)

✦ Technoblade

mr. blood god teaches you the arts of the CRAFT.

yeah i mean it's techno what else does he play besides minecraft

he will play bedwars w/ u, teaching you how to pvp

"bro you kinda suck tbh"

'stfu techno'

he will comment about how bad you are, but tries to help you get better anyways

and when you do a very poggers gamer move, he praises you

and when he praises you you're all :)))

after awhile, he gets tired from watching you play minecraft and suggest watching anime

fucking weeb

i mean

uh

other thing you guys do together in a sleepover is playing and commenting about pokemon

if you don't like pokemon get tf out of here /J

i was joking please don't leave i respect your tastes

✦ Jschlatt

ooooh boy

get ready for a session of wii training

that's all you guys will do

play wii sports and some other shit like wii music

he will laugh his ass of if you fall while playing wii fit

but he will eventually help you bc outside his funny and shouty persona, he's a really chill guy and a really nice person!

seriously like have you ever seen a theweeklyslap video?

well expect hearing amazing pep talks from him

bc this man is a legend and knows his way to words and is very good at comforting people :)

sometimes you'll rant to him about anything that's happening in your life, and he will listen to you and give you really helpful advice

and you appreciate him so much for that

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

TYSM FOR READING GUYS, i appreciate it if you made it this far :)

i hope you guys really enjoyed these headcanons, it's my first time doing them and aa i'm a bit nervous about posting this but i'll be fine ig

also i'm sorry if there's a grammatical error, english is not my native language and i'm still learning it :) have a nice day/night, drink water and don't fuck up your sleeping schedule!!

[sgtbradfords]

If you’re taking Chenford prompts - “please don’t do this” OR “did you really think I wouldn’t find out?”

I apologize for the long wait anon but, I am back to working through my ask box (also, huge thank you to those who are still patiently waiting!) how ever slowly that may be because my muse likes to hide. This is an AU and I hope you enjoy! 

It was early on a Tuesday morning when Lucy Chen pulled her car into her unofficial parking spot around back. She sighed, cursing under her breath at the asshole who felt the need to call her and require her presence over an hour before her alarm was set to go off.

Lucy stepped out of the car, slamming the door in haste before walking around to the front of the building where she found a man in blue standing on the sidewalk, typing away on the phone in his hand.

Lucy cleared her throat, not wanting to startle the officer.

“Ms. Chen? Officer Bradford, sorry about the early wake up call.” He introduced himself as he placed the smart device into the pocket of his kevlar vest.

“Lucy, and I appreciate the call. Looks like a simple 459.”

The officer looked at her in surprise before masking his expression. “You know your penal codes.”

“I minored in criminal justice at Cal State.” She told him as she looked at the broken window that laid shattered along her storefront. “Was anything taken?”

The man crossed his arms, nodding. “Nothing that I could find, but you can look for yourself. The alarm company notified dispatch at 04:23, I arrived on scene at 04:28 and cleared the building.”

Lucy pulled the ring of keys out of her bag, flipping through the different metals before finding the one to unlock the front door. She pulled the metal door back, the bottom catching on a few stray pieces of glass, scrapping them across the concrete. The hint of something sweet engulfed her sense of smell as she stepped into the shop, flipping the light switch on the left wall up, watching as the light lit up the small dining area. Lucy was proud of her little hole in the wall bakery, one that she had literally poured her blood, sweat and tears into over the past five years that had slowly gained popularity and a following.

“How’d you get into all of this?” Officer Bradford asked from behind as she looked around at the destruction that had become her shop.

“By chance really.” She shrugged, walking towards the counter. “I was studying for my Applied Psychophysiology midterm and had a really bad craving for chocolate cake at two in the morning. I had all the ingredients so threw them into a bowl and what began as a hobby turned into a career.”

“Applied psychophysiology?”

“I majored in Psychology.” Lucy told him as he moved closer, the glass that littered the floor, crunching under his boots. “The cash drawer is open, but yesterday was my deposit day so there wasn’t much to take.”

Lucy turned towards the office that was located on the far side. “I keep the cash in the office safe after close.” She told him as he snapped a picture on his phone for the report, finding the door kicked in at the knob.

“Looks to be premeditated.” He suggested.

“Or someone who cased the place beforehand.” She countered.

A twenty-minute meticulous walk through later and Lucy could only find a few things missing, luckily no cash as she flipped on the switches for the ovens in the kitchen, allowing the machines time to preheat to baking temperature.

“You’re still opening?”

“The bills are not going to pay themselves Officer Bradford.” She smiled.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“I will call my insurance adjuster later this morning but I’ve got full coverage so a B&E should be covered.”

“What about the gaping hole in the front?”

Lucy sighed as she grabbed the apron off the hook on the wall. “I’ll figure it out I guess. Thank you Officer Bradford.”

“Tim.”

Lucy smiled again, nodding her head as she grabbed the dustpan and broom from the corner of the room. “Then thank you Tim.”

Four hours later and a steady stream of customers craving pastries later Lucy was finally able to release a sigh, running her fingertips over her forehead to brush away the stray strands of hair.

“Katlyn! Yell if you need me, I’m going to go call the adjuster from my office.” Lucy told her friend and coworker as she left the kitchen. She turned the corner, walking through the open doorway when a noise from outside startled her.

“What the hell?” She thought aloud as she moved towards the now boarded up store front.

Lucy pulled the front door towards her, stepping out just in time as another screw was driven into the plywood.

“Officer- Tim.” She said with her hands on her hips, stopping beside the metal ladder.

The man in question finished turning the metal into the wood, placing the electric drill down on the top step as he climbed down.

“Lucy.”

“What are you doing?” she asked, following him to the back of the truck that was parallel parked by the curb.

Tim shrugged. “Temporarily fixing your window.”

“I see that, but you didn’t have to do that. I have a friend coming-“

“It’s no problem.”

Lucy sighed, closing her eyes. “How much do I owe you?”

“Nothing.”

Lucy opened her eyes, giving him an incredulous look. “You don’t know me, and I don’t know you but yet you’re here fixing a stranger’s problem?”

Tim leaned back against the tailgate, drumming his fingers along the lining. “You’re baking, it’s decent.”

The baker raised a brow. “Decent?”

The off-duty officer sighed, rolling his eyes. “Yeah decent.”

“So, you’ve been to my shop before?”

“Tim!” A voice yelled as he went to reply, the person moving closer as they walked out of the bakery. “What are you doing here?”

“Tamara, shouldn’t you be in school.” He glared, crossing his arms over his chest.

“It’s a maintenance day. And before you ask, no I have not gotten into trouble recently and yes, all of my homework is done.”

Lucy looked back and forth between the two. “You two know each other?”

“She stole a car.”

“He’s officer Zaddy.”

They each told Lucy, speaking over top of one another.

“I didn’t steal the car!” defended Tamara. “It’s not stealing if you return it.”

“It’s still theft Tee.” Lucy said, rolling her eyes. “So, you’re the big bad officer that’s been helping out Tamara? Nice to finally put a face with the name.”

“He’s the one who comes in every morning at 7:40 on the dot and orders the bear claw with a large black coffee.”

Tim scowled at the teen as recognition hit Lucy.

“It’s not always a bear claw.” He defended before looking back at Lucy.  “How do you know Tamara?”

“Jackson West, he mentioned she was down on her luck and well, I can always use the extra help.”

“You’re the one keeping her out of trouble?” He asked as Lucy nodded, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

“I am. You know, she kind of grows on you.”

Tamara sighed. “I’m standing right here.”

Tim ignored the teen. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Just like you didn’t have to fix my window. Thanks for that by the way.” She gestured towards the now covered window. “I was just fixing to call the adjuster.”

“It just needs a few more screws and I’ll be done.”

“You don’t have to go!” She spoke quickly. “I mean when- when you get done, feel free to come in and get whatever you want, it’s on the house.” Lucy told him turning away as her cheeks burned, leaving him chuckling on the sidewalk.

Tamara snorted as Lucy pushed her towards the door, the teen holding the door open against her back as she smirked. “If I knew you and Bradford would hit it off like that, I would have introduced you two to each other months ago.”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “I believe there are dirty dishes in the sink that I am paying you to wash Tee.”

The teen pouted. “But this is so much more fun.”

“Tamara, you’re not getting involved.”

“Fine.” She conceded. “But when you two get married I want all the credit.”

Lucy shook her head, glancing back at the blue eyes that was following her every move. Sometimes fate has a way of weird way of making paths cross.

[newathens]

in honor of everything that happened on aug 18th the good and the bad here is a scene from secrets that has been collecting dust for a year and may never get its moment but it is where luke castellan gets a chance to speak and it deserves to b seen at least once

LUKE:

     Fresh donuts sat up on the counter, the sweet smell of frosting wafting through the space. The place was warm; their air conditioner busted. It was a random Wednesday at eleven in the morning so there weren’t many bystanders, though the few that were around kept stealing glances towards me. A mother lost in thought touched her cheek and when she caught me looking back, ducked her head. I kept tapping the tabletop with my knuckles, wondering how hard I’d have to whine to get the waitress to give me a chocolate glaze. She’d already passed by three times out of worry.

     The shining, silver bell shook and rang as the diner door opened. 

     He stood in the entryway for a long moment, taking in the length of the diner. It took him two tries to notice me, but when he did, the neutral expression he’d worn shifted into a deep frown. He approached the booth slowly and held my gaze all the while.

    “Not funny,” Hermes said. I smiled with all the gusto of a fourteen-year-old.

    “Sorry,” I said, voice dropping several octaves as I aged ten years. “I couldn’t help myself. Too soon?” He took a seat without another word. Blonde hair, blue eyes—nothing much had changed; in fact, there wasn’t a trace of greying hair to be found. He seemed fit, youthful. “I thought we’d leave some mark on your complexions.” He gave a tight smile and said nothing, but in the silence I noticed it. An airy presence, circling around me much like the scent of the pastries. It wasn’t threatening, just curious, like a snake amongst the forest floor.

     He was checking me.

     I did the same to him and watched, rather gleefully, as his eyes widened in recognition. It felt strange, kind of annoying. Is this how gods’ felt? Striped raw, bodies vibrating like giant batteries next to one another?

       His search turned up short, but mine didn’t.

      “Jean pocket, out with it.”

      He sighed and placed a gold iPhone in the middle of the table. The caduceus shimmered on its back. 

     Oh, look who it is! Martha said.

     “Nice to see you,” I said.

     I didn’t say this was nice!

      “And you too, George.”

     Hey, Luke, he said, if you take over his position, will you get to keep us?

     “I’d hope so, you two are a riot.”

     “Comical,” Hermes said. “Both of you keep quiet.” We looked at each other again, ready to speak but unsure how to start. The waitress beat us to it.

     “How can I—oh!” She nearly snapped her pencil in half. Her eyes were wide on me, then on the next booth over, then to the other side of the diner. “Wasn’t there, I mean, there was a child—”

       “Can I have three of those delicious looking donuts, miss?” I asked. The waitress bit her lip absentmindedly.

        “Sure thing,” she said, “And you?”

        “Nothing,” Hermes said, then his eyes glowed. “Thank you, and apologies.” The waitress stared blankly, then walked off without another word. The donuts from the counter disappeared and reappeared at our table. 

      “Thanks,” I said.

      He let out a tired breath, “Lukas—”

      “Yes, father?”

     His expression soured, wind rattled the windows, but then it softened, his eyes shut. I stared at the caduceus, quiet now. He sat back in his seat, placed a steady hand on the wood, and stared out towards the street. Towards the shops and sidewalks familiar to us both.

     “We’re here to talk, correct?”

     “Yes.”

     “Then explain.”

.

     Hermes had the bridge of his nose pinched between two fingers, eyes closed. As the silence stretched on, the conversation played over in my head. Again and again and again. The whole time he barely said a word, not unlike him. . .but not all that comforting. The diner was empty now, though I hadn’t realized when it happened. No weapons, those were the terms, but it would be a lie to say that my palm wasn’t itching to call Backbiter to it. Martha and George slithered around the staff mimicking some sort of animated phone case.

     I should run.

     He stood without warning. I followed.

    “Let’s go for a walk,” he turned and left. Again, I followed.

     Late summer heat wrapped around us like a blanket as we exited into midday. The area was lively, busy shoppers and cyclists, joggers and freshly-washed cars. Sun shone down heavy on their exteriors and I squinted against the glint. It was way too bright—

     “There’s no one here,” he said. I turned. He was waiting on the sidewalk, body facing north, towards the path that would take you further inland. Away from the main strip, closer to the suburbs. “Just you and me.”

     “Right,” I said and shoved both hands deep into their pockets. I knew where we were going.

     Higher up the heat wasn’t as oppressive. Hot winds blew now and then, rustling dry leaves and pushing the scent of saltwater up from the bay. I breathed deeply out of reflex. We walked in silence. I kept our strides in rhythm. That was until I saw it.

     The beat-up white house with green hinges that had fallen into disrepair from neglect and misfortune was almost unrecognizable. A new coat of paint covered the siding, the chipping front door had been replaced, and curtains blew out of wide open windows. A lush, green lawn surrounded the property, split in half by a clean walkway bracketed with a rainbow of flowers. There wasn’t a single discolored, mildewed, decaying stuffed monster to be found. I jogged forward in spite of myself.

     “What did you. . .” I turned back. Hermes had slowed, taking in the scene much the same as I. He looked at me. “What did you do?”

     “Luke, this isn’t,” he stared at the house and his face twisted, “I haven’t done anything.”

     I swallowed a dry mouth and ran up the walkway, all caution lost to the innate yet unearned fear for a loved one. The door rattled under my fist as I knocked repeatedly, frantically. Hermes took his place on the tiny porch beside me.

     “Hello,” I shouted. “Hello, is anyone home? Hello!”

     “Coming! Just a moment,” a gentle voice rose from the depths of the house and a few moments later, a woman opened the door. Blonde hair, not frizzed, interrupted by streaks of gray. Green eyes; forest green, not neon. Healthy skin, not sickly. A warm smile that only grew wider as she took us in.

     “Mom.”

     “Luke,” she said and pulled me in to press a kiss to my forehead. I went as rigid as ice; she didn’t notice. “And look at you,” she said to Hermes, who hid his shock well. He had a smile on, pressed a kiss to her cheek, but I could tell somehow, that he was as clueless as I.

     The spell.

     “Come on you two,” she ushered inside. “I’m baking.”

     “Cookies?” I guessed. It was the wrong thing to say. She stopped midstep, hand on the doorknob, and stared at me. Both eyes open, mouth in a frown. For a moment, nothing happened. Then she blinked and shook her head, as if pushing away a stupor. 

     “No, pie. Do you like cookies?” She led us into the house. It was quiet, a television played low in the front room. Varied, jewel hues covered the walls, hiding the dirty eggshell they used to be. Tarps covered some furniture, though they were clearly being used. The wood floors shined from a polishing. The entire space smelled of pastry. Hermes followed faster than I. “Luke,” she called. She was leaning out the kitchen archway. “Lemonade?”

      “Sure,” I said but couldn’t move. Then Hermes called my name and I scoffed. 

      The kitchen was different too. All the grime had disappeared. All the appliances updated. The old, retro table had been replaced with a long wooden piece, and on top of it, were strawberries. Buckets and buckets of strawberries, contained in plastic, straw, wicker; anything that would hold them. The sweet scent was nearly overpowering here. My mom held out a full glass and brought my hand to it to make sure it didn’t drop.

     “Strawberries?” I asked.

     She looked at the table, “Oh! Yes, I’ve grown quite an affinity for them,” she shrugged. “Not sure why but. . . they’re pretty aren’t they?” A beep sounded.

     “May,” Hermes said as she pulled a tray from the oven. She looked over her shoulder. 

     “Yes?” 

     “May, are you alright?”

     My mother smiled—with a gorgeous set of pearly whites. Not possible, her teeth had yellowed and rotted years ago. “Of course, I am. It’s a beautiful day and I have two of my favorite people right in front of me.”

     “May,” Hermes said a third time, this one pained. I realized where I felt confusion, he felt hurt. My mother noticed. Her smile dropped and her eyes along with it. “May, the last time I saw you. . .it didn’t look like this.”

     She placed the tray on the stove and took a heavy seat at the table. The towering strawberries seemed to suffocate her figure. “I was very different, wasn’t I? But I don’t like to think about it. Why not have some pie and then you can go? I don’t expect you to stay very long.” She looked at both of us. “You never can.”

    Hermes huffed in misery. He came to sit by her side. I felt like I was watching a television show. This couldn’t be mine, this couldn’t be my parents. 

    He took her hand, “I don’t mean to put you through pain but I’m a little shocked. Your condition. . . wasn’t exactly fixable. I’d like to know what happened.”

    “I don’t know,” she shrugged. “About a year ago, I woke up. . .at least it felt like that. The presence of that thing disappeared, mostly. I could think straight again. I started cleaning up, there wasn’t anything else to do. The calendar on the wall was from the nineties. Found out someone had been paying the bills all this time,” she touched Hermes cheek and he smiled. “One morning I started working on the lawn. . .” she gave a sad, little laugh. “Apparently, I’d gained a reputation. The neighbors were so worried they tried to take the shears out of my hands, but once they realized. . .they helped me. People helped me fix up the house, gave me food, took me to the dentist, taught me how to use these new phones. They were so kind,” she sniffled. “I really didn’t deserve that much kindness.”

     “Of course you do,” Hermes said but she lifted her head towards me.

     “I don’t remember much. I get glimpses, pains even. But what I can recall, none of it is good. The memories. . .and the visions. Luke, honey, I’m so sorry.” The air was so thick I could’ve cut through it with Backbiter. I scuffed my boot against the linoleum. Silence snaked its way through the kitchen, like Martha and Geroge slithered on that phone.

    “There’s nothing to apologize for, Mom,” I said finally.

     “But there is,” she tried. “All that happened, the things I did, and then I just let you—”

     “There’s nothing you have to apologize for,” I said and the air shifted from thick to frigid. Hermes’ jaw tightened, but he didn’t move his gaze from my mother. Whatever. “So did you chuck all my old stuff? Not that it matters, I’m a little too old for Power Ranger pajamas.”

      My mother wiped at her eyes, “Oh no, I haven’t touched your room. Go take a look, it’s all there.”

.

     The tiny, off-white carpeted room with one square window was exactly how I’d left it a long, long time ago. The bureau had one drawer open. Angry crayon marks covered a low corner of the wall. The small, twin bed was made, but wrinkled. I walked up to it and ran a hand across the blanket. 

     I had the sudden urge to stay.

    It hit me like a brick to the solar plexus, knocking the wind from my lungs. Anger followed soon after. What are you thinking? I thought to myself.

    You could go to college.

    You lost your right to a future.

    You don’t get to leave, Annabeth’s voice echoed.

    Through the window I could see the road; children playing across the street; a man starting up a lawn mower. It felt surreal, freakishly abnormal.

    Maybe this was a type of punishment.

    “What are you thinking?” Hermes asked. I hadn’t heard him enter.

    “I’m thinking I’m too big for this bed,” I said and turned towards him, hands in pockets. His cadecaus was out now. The snakes slithered the length of it, restless. “Not that it matters.”

[beels-burger-babe]

I Love Him (Chapter One -DRAFT)

***S-So um...I felt bad for not having any Obey Me content to give you guys tonight, and instead thought th-that maybe instead of nothing you would like a sneak peek at my novel that I have previously mentioned, I Love Him.

What I'm showing you is the current draft of the first chapter. I haven't really touched it in a few months but um...I-I hope you like it?)***

Chapter One

“Bullocks”

Arthur Howell glared at the closed sign hanging on the door in front of him. Up until this point, his grocery run had been fairly pleasant, but now he supposed he’d have to find another place to buy his baked goods until the owners reopened in February.

A fantastic start to 1958. Arthur thought bitterly to himself as he shivered in the cold winter air.

Arthur looked around for a solution to his dilemma, but all his eyes found were more of the grey, stoned streets of central London and its citizens. He sighed and ran a hand through his slicked blond hair in frustration when a subtle scent reached his nose.

Wisps of fragrant pastries and other confections danced in the air, standing out against the usual perfume of damp fog and pollution. In a split decision, Arthur quickly began to follow the scent.

It was only after five minutes of walking did a rose-shaped, white sign hanging off a two-story apartment come into his view. In a hand-painted, feminine font it read “Blooming Confections.”

A small bell went off above his head as he entered, and he nearly ran into a group of giggling schoolgirls, each with a freshly baked biscuit in hand. Arthur narrowed his eyebrows at them and then took in his surroundings; his eyes widened as he did.

The room was well lit and seemed to emanate a warm welcoming glow that bounced off its cream-coloured walls. A few people sat conversing peacefully; they all had gentle smiles on their faces as they enjoyed whichever treat they had ordered. The smell of delicate pastries and sweetbreads swirled in harmony with the scent of brewed coffee and the faintest traces of the herbs hanging to dry over the front counter. Arthur stood in awe. How had he never heard of this little slice of heaven before?

Arthur heard a door close. A man in a polo shirt and navy apron came out from the back to stand behind the cash register. He wiped flour-covered hands on a cloth before flicking it onto his shoulder and looking up. The cashier’s chestnut eyes met Arthur’s hazel ones.

“Welcome to Blooming Confections. How can we help you today?”

Arthur stared, and he stared, and he said nothing. A single spiral of brunette curls rested just off-center of the cashier’s forehead. The light from the window to their right created the illusion of a copper halo framing his head. The man quirked an eyebrow and tilted his head ever so slightly. Arthur cleared his throat and forced his attention to the chalkboard menu behind the cashier, as though he hadn’t decided his order yet.

Which was not true. Arthur needed two loaves of white bread and nothing more.

It had been a ritual of sorts ever since he had turned sixteen and gained the ability to travel on his own. Every second Friday, Arthur would wake up, be served breakfast by the family servants, and then ignore whatever tasks his father may have set upon him to go downtown and fetch some groceries; included in those groceries were always two loaves of white bread. However, that bit of information had been replaced with all kinds of thoughts about the cute cashier in front of him.

By God, this man was adorable.

“First time?” Arthur’s attention snapped back to the other man as his cheeks flushed at the man’s words. He must have misheard him. This stranger couldn’t be implying such a thing in public, could he? The cashier simply smiled at him patiently. “It can be overwhelming. I mean, there are seven kinds of bread and four of them look the same. How’s a bloke supposed to tell them apart?” The man turned to a display case to the left of him attached to the front counter, and Arthur’s shoulder slumped in a mix of relief and embarrassment at the clarification. “That is if you’re here for bread. Could I interest you in a white or brown loaf?” He gestured to where the two sat in the case, “Though you could always be looking for sweets. We’ve all kinds, so just take a look, see what you like and let me know when you’re ready.”

Arthur stuffed his hands in his pockets and stiffly nodded. He had officially decided that no, he would not be leaving with just two loaves of bread. That would mean that this experience would be over much too quickly. He didn’t even know the cashier’s name yet. “I’m afraid that I can’t quite make up my mind. Any recommendations, sir?” He tried to ask politely.

The man scoffed slightly. “No need to call me sir. I’m Charles. My mother, Rose Davies, and I run this bakery.” Charles’s chin rose slightly and stared at Arthur as though daring him to mock the statement. Arthur quirked an eyebrow at his defensive state.

In hopes of getting the man to ease up, Arthur offered him a smile. “Then I must compliment you on the fine establishment you run, Mr. Davies. I’m Arthur, by the way. Arthur Howell.”

Arthur could only watch as the baker’s eyes widened at the surname and he took note of the expensive suit that Arthur wore. Arthur had no doubt that Charles realized exactly who the man in front of him was; the Arthur Howell, son of Anita and Edmund Howell and, therefore, heir of Howell Corporation. The conglomerate business was hugely successful, though his father held the reputation of a cold shark who did what he pleased without regard towards others. As a result, those in the lower classes, his father’s victims more often than not, tended to hold disdain towards the Howell name.

The young Howell tensed and prepared himself to be insulted or shouted at, but found himself pleasantly surprised as the baker merely grinned at him. “Thank you, Mr. Howell. Now, what can I help you with?”

Arthur was shocked to find a ball of warmth growing within him at the stranger’s acceptance and distracted himself by kneeling in front of the display case. “Did you help bake these?”

Charles nodded, “I bake the first batch of everything in the morning before Mum takes over. I’d rather be in the kitchen all day, but she claims that it’s better for business if I’m at the front counter. Never quite understood what she meant by that.”

Arthur knew; she meant that her son was fit and that those school girls he had run into on the way in were probably here to get a peek at the cashier’s toned biceps more than anything else. Mrs. Rose Davies was a very smart woman.

Charles shook his head and looked back at Arthur, “But you had asked about recommendations, yes?” Arthur nodded as Charles leaned onto the top of the display case to see what was all there. “Well, I personally love the banana muffins. They’re not too sweet, but just enough to end any cravings. They were my favourite when I was a kid, but I haven’t tried any in a little bit. Ever since I started baking regularly, I’ve kind of formed a disdain for all sweets. I’ll have some from time to time, but otherwise-” He trailed off as he met Arthur’s stare and blushed. “Oh Lord, I’m rambling. Sorry.”

Arthur shrugged, “No worries. I’ll take one of the muffins as well as two loaves of white bread.” He chuckled at the man as he thought over what had been said. “A baker that doesn’t enjoy the things that he bakes?” Charles paused for a moment, as he carefully placed the food into paper bags, then nodded. Arthur laughed; a rich deep sound that seemed to draw Charles’s gaze. “You really are special, Mr. Davies, you know that?”

The baker frowned as he led Arthur to the register. “Not really. Sugar simply grows tiring when you’re around it all day. That’s all.” He punched the information into the machine and cranked the side handle until a ding was heard. “That’ll be twenty-six pence, please.”

Arthur gave him half a pound and held up a hand when Charles went to fetch the change. “Keep it. This is an amazing establishment you have here. Your service was excellent.”

Charles blinked at him as Arthur began to collect his bags. “Sir, that’s nearly double your total. I really can’t accept this much.”

Without taking the change Arthur began to walk away from the counter. “And yet, I insist.” He grinned playfully at the confused baker. “I’ll see you again, Mr. Davies.”

“Al-Alright then. Come again!” Charles called out almost unsure but could do nothing more as Arthur left the building much more satisfied than he had entered

****HOPE YOU ENJOYED OKAY BYE - B****

[bobowho]

baking with strawberries and sunshine (m)

→ pairing: byun baekhyun x reader

→ word count: 21k

→ genre: bakery au, pastry chef!baekhyun, college student!y/n, fluff, angst, smut

→ warnings: smut, slight angst, mentions of toxic relationships

→ playlist

→ summary: y/n started working at a small bakery stocked with sugary items, but never expected the sweetest thing in the world to be her boss’s smile.

→ link to ao3

The sugary aroma of freshly baked lemon macaroons was first of all, too sweet for y/n’s taste, and so overwhelming that y/n could barely focus on the paper she was trying to finish. She was sitting at a small table in a secluded corner of the bakery. y/n had been a regular ever since she discovered the place, one and a half months ago at the beginning of the semester. The interior had soft tones of ivory with gold accents, matching the warm mood of the store.

Eyebrows furrowing in frustration, she closed her laptop and pulled out her headphones from her ears, loud music quickly dimming away, and instead gentle notes of smooth jazz played in the background of the store. The struggle with writer’s block was painstakingly real.

y/n approached the counter for some coffee to help her focus. She stood about two feet away to examine the menu while the part timer working the register awkwardly waited for her to finish. From freshly squeezed grapefruit juice to a warm cup of cappuccino, the menu listed a slew of options.

“Sehun! Can you watch the oven for me?” A frantic voice came out from the back of the store, and a face popped out from the doorway between the kitchen and the counter.

y/n eyes shot towards the source of the noise and saw a man with a dark brown fringe, puppy eyes, and a slight pout begging Sehun to watch whatever he was baking at the moment. 

His eyes wandered to y/n for a moment before realizing Sehun was about to receive an order, and he made a small O with his mouth in an endearing way before pulling his head back into the kitchen. 

“What can I get for you?” Sehun asked. 

Thinking about the quick interaction between Sehun and the other guy, y/n turned her eyes to Sehun and ordered an iced americano with an extra shot — something to wake her up. 

The next day, y/n returned to the bakery, inhaled sweet fumes of pastries and bread, and sat at her usual corner so she could type away while constantly checking her word count to see how close she was to finishing her paper. She went to go order a coffee like always, but a sign caught her eye this time. 

Now hiring!

Part-time 

If interested, please call for the manager.

y/n was in need of a job. She was a college student terribly in debt and had almost missed the deadline for last month’s rent. The offer seemed enticing.

“Are you interested?” Someone interrupted. y/n looked up and saw the same guy yesterday with the puppy eyes, except this time he was smiling and they were in crescents. 

y/n, startled by his sudden presence, stammered out the only answer that seemed adequate. “Yes..? I—“

The man’s eyes lit up at the answer and he clapped in excitement.

“Great! We’ve been looking for someone to work the shifts Sehun can’t. Oh, I’m Baekhyun, by the way.” He introduced himself to y/n cheerily. “I own this bakery! I do the managing and most of the baking. Sehun helps me here and there… Here! Here’s the application.” Baekhyun pulled out a piece of paper from behind the counter and shoved it into y/n’s hands as if she would change her mind if he didn't act fast enough.

y/n, still recovering from the quick turn of events, nodded and quickly said, “Nice to meet you Baekhyun. I’m y/n. But can I order a coffee?”

“Oh, of course, y/n. What would you like?” Baekhyun lightly grinned and waited for y/n’s answer.

Only if y/n knew she would meet the love of her life at a bakery with a boss who had the personality of sunshine and a loving pair of hands that made everything he touched sweet.

“Holy fuck, y/n.” Sehun lightly exclaimed as he watched a plume of white smoke come out of the oven as soon as y/n opened it. 

y/n let out a cough before running out of the kitchen to get fresher air. Her first day at work had started off with a great first impression. 

Sehun followed y/n out of the store and let out a sigh. “All you had to do was watch. The. Damn. Cookies.”

y/n shamefully looked down at her feet. “I’m sorry. I got distracted checking to make sure I counted the stock of french brioche correctly and—“

y/n saw Baekhyun walk towards them from down the street, hands full of paper bags. The bakery needed extra flour and powdered sugar, so Baekhyun had gone out earlier to get some from the grocery store. 

“Guys, don’t just stand there and help me take these bags! My arms feel like they’re going to fall out!” Baekhyun yelled from afar. 

Sehun and y/n hurried towards Baekhyun and each grabbed the items from his arms. Baekhyun let out a sigh of relief as he let go of a few of the bags. 

“Hey Baekhyun, the batch of chocolate chips—” Sehun started to explain the situation, but Baekhyun stopped in his tracks and sniffed the air as they got closer to the bakery. 

“Do I smell burnt cookies?” Baekhyun asked.

y/n cringed. “Yeah, I was supposed to be checking on them but they ended up burning…” She waited for Baekhyun to scold her for doing so poorly on her first day of work, but Baekhyun just nodded and walked into the bakery, no longer smelling sweet like it used to. A heavy scent of bitterly burnt cookies hit everyone’s noses, making them scrunch up.

Baekhyun and y/n went into the kitchen while Sehun went to keep the store’s door open to let in some fresh air. 

Baekhyun saw neatly round, black circles on the baking tray and closed his eyes in disappointment. y/n was usually not the type to cry but she couldn’t help the tears forming in her eyes. She hated disappointing people, especially not her new boss, Baekhyun. 

“I’m so sorry.” y/n sincerely apologized. “If you need any help baking these again, let me know. I promise not to make the same mistake.”

Baekhyun turned away from the ugly batch of cookies to look at y/n, only to be surprised to see her teary eyed and clearly upset at the situation. Baekhyun’s eyes widened at the sight of tears rolling down y/n’s face.

“y/n, it’s fine.” Baekhyun assured her. “We all make mistakes. And it’s only your first day! I promise you’ll get better over time.”

y/n still didn’t feel any better about the fact that Baekhyun would have to bake a whole new batch just because she couldn’t watch the time. It was the stupidest mistake she could’ve made.

Baekhyun reached out a hand to wipe away a tear on y/n’s cheek with the back of his finger. “Here, let me get you some tissues.” He quickly fetched a box of tissues and handed it to y/n, who was calming down now. 

“How about you start setting up the tables in the store once you feel ready, okay? Again, y/n, it’s no big deal. I can just bake it again in no time! Bam! It’ll be ready to go once the store opens for the day. Other than the cookies, you’re doing a great job for your first day.” Baekhyun lightly smiled at y/n and gave her a slight nudge on the shoulder as if it could cheer her up. 

y/n nodded. She didn’t understand why she felt so upset at messing up. Maybe, she just wanted to be perfect on her first day,

The rest of her shift went smoothly, and when y/n returned home after classes there was a text from Baekhyun: 

[good job today! sehun and i are both happy to have you working with us. see you tomorrow!!] 

y/n couldn’t help but smile at the cheeriness in the text. It made her evening slightly better.

“Hi, what can I get for you?” y/n asked the guy anxiously fidgeting in front of the counter.

He stared at y/n for a few moments before saying, “Can I have a…latte.” He wore a tattered dark hoodie and nervously bit at his lip. y/n noticed he had been coming quite often to the bakery lately. 

y/n wondered what he was so nervous for but she smiled and said, “Sure thing. I’ll have it out in a few moments.”

The guy grabbed his drink and stiffly sat down at a nearby table. y/n could feel his eyes glancing up to catch a glimpse of her once every few minutes. She didn’t appreciate him checking her out which made her a bit uncomfortable — but a customer was a customer.

It was only y/n’s fifth day at work, but she already felt like it had been weeks. She’d already become strangely used to the morning sunlight streaming in through the windows, the addicting smell of cookies and pastries, and Baekhyun’s quiet humming as he busily worked in the kitchen. She breathed in the scent of freshly-baked brownies, the scent getting stronger and stronger as Baekhyun carried the tray out towards the counter.

Baekhyun. He was almost painfully adorable-looking today, with his dark hair neatly combed against his forehead and his cheeks slightly flushed from the heat of the oven. He was wearing a neat white button-down and navy blue slacks, complemented with his baker’s apron.

“Want to try one?” Baekhyun asked, placing the brownies out on the display shelf.

y/n had eaten breakfast before coming in for her shift, but she didn’t know if it could be possible to say no to Baekhyun with his puppy-like eyes. “Sure,” she replied.

He handed her a brownie, and y/n took a bite. The chewy texture and taste of warm chocolate was perfect. It was quite literally one of the best brownies she had ever tasted.

“Holy shit, that’s so good.” she blurted out, before mentally scolding herself. She wasn’t sure if Baekhyun thought it was entirely professional to swear at work.

She was pleased to hear Baekhyun’s soft chuckle. “Thank you, I’ve been perfecting that recipe ever since I opened this bakery.”

y/n looked over to see Baekhyun smiling down at her. She found herself suddenly wondering how old this man was. He looked barely older than her, and she was still a college student. He definitely looked like he could even be younger than some of the boys she’d seen on campus. Most of the boys her age acted like they could barely iron their own clothes, let alone own their own business.

“I hope this doesn’t come across as weird,” she said carefully, “but you look awfully young to be owning your own business.”

Baekhyun let out another light laugh, his puppy eyes crinkling at the corners. “Don’t worry, I get that a lot.”

“I don’t really think of myself as young, I’m twenty-five. I actually dropped out of college halfway through my second year,” he explained. “I had a huge fight with my family over it. I come from a not super well-off family, and they always wanted me to study something like finance or accounting, so I could get a stable job after I graduated — but it was always my dream to open my own bakery.”

y/n was taken aback by his response. She didn’t expect him to open up about his personal reasons for opening the bakery. She couldn’t help but admire that Baekhyun chased after his dream in exchange with stability.

“I worked multiple jobs for a few years after I dropped out, so I could save up to start this bakery. It was a bit rough at first, but the last year has been amazing. I even have some regulars now. Plus, It's been great to work with Sehun. And you now, of course.” He nudged at her side with a wink.

y/n couldn’t imagine being so passionate about something that she’d be willing to risk so much for it. She liked her psychology major at school, but not so much that she felt like it was her dream. “I wish I had something I was passionate about like that.”

Baekhyun gave her a grim smile. “I’ve learned that most people don’t find it. I see my friends from college sometimes, and some aren’t completely satisfied with their office jobs. I guess I’m just lucky that I get to do what I love for a living.”

y/n watched Baekhyun’s warm brown eyes shift through uncertainty, rejection, and accomplishment after years of hard work. She knew he’d been through pain and desolation that she could not even begin to understand. y/n wished she could’ve been there for him, supported him through all his highs and lows.

Baekhyun soon left her to bake another batch of brownies. She examined the bakery closely and saw how dear the small shop was to Baekhyun. Every inch, every corner came from countless hours working day and night to afford this place. The bakery was his everything. 

A week passed, and y/n had somehow managed to not set the entire bakery on fire. There was a lot to learn, and by the end of the week y/n’s head was aching with the number of drinks and pastry recipes she’d had to memorize. y/n was in the fall semester of her last year at university and soon found herself running from class to class, only to rush to work right after. The only thing that kept her from completely exploding of stress and exhaustion was that she got to see Baekhyun and his energizing smile every time she went in for her shift.

It was a chilly Thursday morning in October. The bakery was having a lull in the usual morning rush of customers. y/n stared outside the window at the leaves in shades of red and brown clinging onto their branches, as a gust of wind flew through the streets. The air around her smelled like fall — pumpkin spice and pecan pies. Cliché, but there wasn’t any other way to describe it.

“You know, Baekhyun’s kinda weird around you,” Sehun blurted suddenly while drying espresso cups with a dishcloth. He sent a quick glance in y/n’s direction, a smirk on his face. 

“What?”

“I’ve been friends with Baekhyun for a long time, and I’ve worked here for almost a year. Trust me, if I had burnt an entire batch of cookies on my first day, Baekhyun would’ve yelled at me for sure,” Sehun said confidently, turning to look y/n with a pointed look on his face. y/n nervously wiped her palm on her apron.

y/n didn’t know what to say. Baekhyun had been extremely nice to her all week, giving her only smiles and encouragement at every mistake. She had just assumed that Baekhyun was a naturally nice and patient person.

“I’m sure that’s just because you’re friends with him.” y/n managed, avoiding Sehun’s gaze.

Sehun cocked his head to the side as if in deep thought. “Maybe,” he conceded, “I do wonder why he’s so nice to you, though. He isn’t usually like this around other people. I guess the last time he acted this way was when he met his ex.”

“I—” y/n started to say, only to be interrupted by the chime of the door as it opened. Baekhyun walked in, carrying bags of coffee beans. His dark hair gleamed in the late morning light. He offered a puppy dog smile at the both of them.

“Good morning!” he said brightly, setting an armful of coffee bags down on the counter. Sehun suddenly bolted upright at the sight of his boss. Baekhyun’s appearance on a late Thursday morning usually meant that Sehun’s opening shift was over.

“That’s my cue to leave,” Sehun announced, taking off his apron and gathering his things.

“You’re not even going to say hi to me?” Baekhyun placed his hand on his chest, feigning hurt.

“I’ve got class in ten minutes!” Sehun yelled, running out the door. The door chimed again as Sehun slammed it behind him. Baekhyun stared after him, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I swear that kid thinks I’m just his friend, not his boss.”

y/n found a flush suddenly rising to her cheeks, thinking of what Sehun had said earlier. Baekhyun had been nice — maybe too nice — to her for the past week. He hadn’t said a single mean thing after she repeatedly messed up coffee orders and pastry recipes. That had been the only reason why working in this bakery had been bearable for her, when her schedule was jam-packed and exams were drawing uncomfortably close.

She spared a glance in his direction. Baekhyun was opening a bag of coffee beans, pouring the coffee beans into the espresso machine. He is awfully adorable, y/n mused. His hair was slightly ruffled from the wind outside, his eyes concentrated on the coffee bag as he carefully tipped it into the espresso machine. If she looked closer, she could see a tiny mole above the corner of his mouth. She wondered what it would be like to kiss—

Stop, he’s your boss, y/n mentally scolded herself. This job was important to her, and she didn’t want to jeopardize it by forming a stupid crush on her boss. Besides, everyone knew what a terrible idea it was to date someone you work with, let alone your boss.

“You’re being quiet today,” Baekhyun commented.

“Huh?” y/n turned to see Baekhyun standing right next to her by the counter. He was staring at her with a curious look in his eyes and a slight smile on his lips. He was awfully close to her. She prayed he hadn’t noticed the blush creeping up on her cheeks.

“I guess I’m a little tired. I’ve been really busy this week,” y/n said awkwardly. 

The door chimed as a customer walked in. y/n silently thanked the gods as the customer ordered a cappuccino.

y/n made her way over to the fridge, pouring a cup of milk before absentmindedly placing the cup under the milk steamer, turning it on. She didn’t notice when Baekhyun strode over to the milk steamer to stand beside her and looked down at the cup.

“Uh,” Baekhyun said, “that’s not how you foam milk.”

y/n felt herself flush again. She couldn’t believe she had made another mistake over something so simple. After working at this bakery for a week, she couldn’t even foam milk properly. y/n really must be the worst employee any bakery has ever seen. 

Before y/n could apologize, Baekhyun spoke. “Don’t apologize. It’s my fault for not teaching you properly. I thought I had gone over everything with the drinks already, but I forgot I didn’t teach you how to use the steamer.”

He reached out his hand to rest over y/n’s hand that was holding the cup. He guided her hand slightly downwards, so that the tip of the steaming wand was submerged in the milk. He murmured instructions, his face inches away from hers. She stared at the steamer as if it was the most interesting thing in the world, trying desperately not to think of the softness of his hand against hers, or the feel of his breath against her ear. She could feel her heart pound against her ribcage. Get it together, she told herself, he’s your boss.

“See how fluffy the milk became? That’s some quality foam you can use in a cappuccino,” Baekhyun declared, seemingly unaware of y/n’s panic beside him.

His hand lingered on hers for just a second after the milk finished frothing, his thumb softly grazing the back of her hand like a feather. He pulled away reluctantly.

“Now you’ll be able to make any drink that needs foamed milk!” Baekhyun said with a smile. She wondered how he managed to be so cheery all the time, despite her utter incompetence at her job. 

“Thank you,” she managed. “I know I haven’t, uh, been the best at this job. You’ve been so supportive and nice to me, even though I don’t probably deserve it. I just want to say thank you for that.”

“You don’t have to thank me. There’s a lot on your plate right now. Trust me, I know how hard it is to work a job as a student. You’ll know everything by heart soon, don’t worry. I believe in you!” Baekhyun looked at her sincerely. From this close, she could see his soft brown eyes speckled with darker shades of brown. They were like a warm pool of hot chocolate in the soft morning light.

y/n and Baekhyun were interrupted in their little moment by the bakery’s door chiming open again.

As Baekhyun walked over to take the order, y/n found her mind wandering back to what Sehun had said earlier.

He was right. Baekhyun was nice to her — to the point that it made her feel a little guilty. No guy had ever treated her this well, lest a guy who was supposed to be her boss. The last time he acted like this was when he met his ex, Sehun had said. y/n suspected that Sehun had been messing around, but she couldn’t help but wonder. 

For a second, she let herself think of a universe where this sweet, adorable pastry chef could ever have feelings for her. She knew it was probably impossible — these fairytale, rom-com type romances were unrealistic and tended to never happen to her. She also knew that she should be trying hard to not develop an irreversible crush on her boss right now. It was hard not to, but for just a second, she could risk falling into a daydream.

Later that day, y/n rushed from one end of the counter to another, busily getting the bakery ready for closing. Baekhyun had left a few hours ago, giving y/n a thumbs-up and smile, saying that he trusted her to do a great job. The bakery was quiet except for the sound of giant coffee jugs emptying into the sink and the soft jazz music playing in the background as y/n worked. There was only one customer still remaining in the bakery, a man sitting at a table, staring down at his phone.

y/n glanced up out of the big window that looked out onto the dark streets. The sun had started setting earlier as the weather turned colder, and the sky was deepening from a shade of navy blue into pitch black. She freely hummed to the music playing in the background as she wiped down the counter. She looked up at the clock behind the counter, marking 9PM. It was closing time.

The man sitting at the table was still hunched down, looking at his phone. y/n awkwardly cleared her throat.

“Um, excuse me…but the bakery is closing right now.”

The man turned his head. He looked slightly older than y/n, but still young. His overgrown dark hair fell slightly into his eyes as he blinked at her with a slight blush on his cheeks. He wore an oversized black hoodie and black skinny jeans. She recognized him as the guy who had been visiting the bakery so often.

“Oh, okay. I’ll leave, then.” he said, barely a whisper. He got up, pushed the chair in, and left.

As the door closed shut, y/n let out the breath she had been holding in unknowingly. She was always a bit nervous when she was by herself during a night shift, with a single customer in the bakery. Especially if the customer was a man sitting by himself.

y/n finished up her job, double checking everything before she gathered her things and locked the bakery door behind her. The sun had completely set, the sky black and only lit by the streetlamps lining the narrow street. The bakery was on a small street near the main campus of her university, only a few blocks away from her apartment.

She clutched her canvas bag to her side as she began making her way down the street. She walked about a block or so before she noticed a man following behind her. She slightly turned her head and saw the same man who had just left the bakery.

A panic rose in her stomach. The man had left the bakery several minutes before, long enough that he should’ve been long gone from this street. He must’ve waited outside until I was done, she thought. She felt another bubble of fear rise up inside her. She was reminded of countless stories about her friends, being followed by men late at night in the city streets, having to call someone to pick them up out of fear or even call the cops.

She looked back again as she turned a corner. The man was still following her. He looked terrifying in the dark, his face completely hidden under the shadow of his hoodie and his fast strides threatening to catch up to her any second. 

y/n reached for her phone in her bag, frantically thinking of people she could call. Most of her friends lived on the other side of campus, and they would take at least fifteen minutes to walk over to her. She helplessly raked through her brain, thinking of people she knew that lived near her. Then she remembered Baekhyun three days ago, mentioning that he lived a block away from the bakery and didn’t need to take the bus when Sehun complained about the crowded bus ride from his apartment.

She dialed his number without thinking twice.

“y/n?” Baekhyun���s voice rang out after a few moments. “Are you heading home now? How was your closing shift? You probably did great, so don’t even—”

“Where are you right now? Are you close yet?” y/n spoke louder than usual, making sure the man trailing behind her could clearly hear. She wondered if her voice sounded as nervous on the phone as she was feeling on the inside. She spared another glance backwards to see the man still walking behind her, less than half a block away from her.

“y/n? What do you mean? I’m—”

“It’s like, so dark out. Please don’t be late picking me up like last time.”

“...where are you, y/n?” Baekhyun’s voice, deep in concern, answered over the phone.

“Our usual spot. Like a block away from the bakery.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in two minutes.”

Two minutes? y/n was sure he was at least five minutes away if he was lucky. She stopped underneath a streetlamp and heard the footsteps from behind cease. She crossed her arms and thought about the pepper spray she had left back in a drawer in her bedroom. She remembered her dad giving it to her before leaving for college and making her promise him that she would carry it. Never did y/n think something like this would actually happen. 

A minute had passed. The footsteps resumed unexpectedly and began to approach her. y/n’s heart raced even faster. She didn’t dare look behind her. Instead, she reached inside her pocket to fish out her apartment key. She recalled reading somewhere that keys could be wedged between the fingers and used for self defense.

“y/n!” Before she could pull a move on her stalker, she heard Baekhyun call out her name and looked down the street, watching him running as fast as he could, strands of hair flopping against his forehead. She barely recognized him in his hoodie and sweatpants, his hair damp as if he had just stepped out of the shower.

The stalker was clearly surprised by the sudden interference. y/n could see him slowly back away in her peripheral vision.

As Baekhyun approached, y/n couldn’t help but feel relieved to see his face. His features became clearer when he arrived under the yellow toned streetlamp. He grabbed y/n by the arms as soon as he was close enough to reach for her.

“Baby, did you wait long? I’m so sorry.” Baekhyun leaned down to look at y/n’s face and pouted his lips to express how bad he felt about being late when in fact, it had taken him only a few minutes to get to y/n from his apartment.

Baekhyun then put his arms around her, squeezing her body close against his, and y/n could feel his heart pounding against his chest. The smell of fabric softener mixed with strawberry-scented body wash engulfed y/n as half of her face got buried in Baekhyun’s hoodie.

Was Baekhyun trying to act like her boyfriend?

“Baekhyun, you don’t have to—”

Baekhyun lowered his face next to y/n’s and quietly whispered just for them to hear. “I called the police. They’re going to be here any minute.”

He raised his voice again. “Let’s get you home. I missed you all day! I’ll give you a lot of kisses to make up for it.”

y/n turned her head a little to the side to look at the street behind her. The stalker was walking away from them quickly, disappearing behind a corner. y/n felt her body relax a little when she could no longer see him anymore.

Baekhyun’s arms remained tight around her, even as the street became silent and they could no longer hear the footsteps of the stalker behind them. y/n could feel the brush of his hands against her back as she buried her face in his shoulder.

Now y/n’s heartbeat was louder than Baekhyun’s. It was thrumming in her ears and she became worried that Baekhyun could hear it too. 

“I think you can let me go now.” y/n muttered, her voice muffled by the fabric of Baekhyun’s hoodie.

“I can feel you shaking, y/n.” Baekhyun quietly said. 

y/n raised her hand that had been hanging limply by her side. She saw it tremble against the dim glow of the streetlamps beside her.

Cue the police, sirens came blaring down the street, but y/n was sure the sound of her heartbeat was louder.

After a short interrogation by the police on the incident, y/n and Baekhyun silently climbed up the stairs of her three-story walkup. He had insisted that he at least walk her home, seeing how pale and shaky she had been after the incident.

When y/n and Baekhyun arrived at her door, y/n awkwardly pulled out her apartment key. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Baekhyun carefully asked.

y/n nodded hesitantly to assure him, “It’s late. You should head home too.”, but she wasn’t actually okay. She was scared. Her hand was still shaking and she could barely manage to fit her key through the keyhole.

“Okay,” he said hesitantly, “if you need anything, let me know.” He pulled his lips into a slight grin and waited for y/n to get into her apartment.

She stepped in and lingered for a moment before turning back around. “Actually…can you stay for a little bit? I don’t think I can handle being alone right now.” 

Baekhyun raised his eyebrows at the sudden change of heart. He nodded and said, “Of course.”

y/n instantly regretted her decision as soon as they both stepped into her apartment. She saw a million things in disarray. She quickly snatched up a stray bra on the couch before throwing it under a pillow before Baekhyun could see. 

Baekhyun didn’t seem to notice the state of her apartment. His gaze remained on her pale face as he reached over and grabbed a knitted blanket, haphazardly thrown over her couch. He walked over and wrapped it around her shoulders like a shawl.

“I’ll stay in your living room. Is that okay?” Baekhyun sat down on the floor at the base of the couch. 

“Yeah.” y/n answered before heading into her bedroom to get ready to wash and take a shower. 

y/n stepped out of the shower and changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants. She could smell something sweet wafting down the hallway leading to the living room. It reminded her of the bakery, but not quite.

“I hope you don’t mind that I used your kettle. I saw a pack of hot chocolate lying on your counter and I figured you could use a cup.” Baekhyun held up a mug, steam rolling off into the air. The air filled with her favorite chocolate scent.

y/n sat down on the opposite side and relished the warmth of the cup of hot chocolate in her palms. She sipped on the warm, sugary drink. 

“Thank you so much, for everything.” she said after a long, comfortable silence. She glanced over the mug at his face, still scrunched up with concern.

He waited until y/n fished her cup. “You should sleep now.”

y/n nodded in agreement. “You can go home if you would like.”

Baekhyun just lightly smiled and waved at her to go sleep in her bedroom. “I can sleep on the couch. Goodnight, y/n.”

y/n climbed into bed and pulled her covers up to her chin. There was no way y/n was sleeping with Baekhyun in her living room. As comfortable as Baekhyun made y/n feel, his presence made her nervous, but not in a bad way. The more she thought about it, the harder it was to sleep. Finally, after much contemplation, y/n pulled out her phone and called Baekhyun for the second time that night.

He answered after a few seconds. “Hello?”

“I can’t sleep.”

Baekhyun hummed before saying, “Okay, what do you need. A lullaby?”

y/n thought he was joking, but Baekhyun patiently waited for her response.

“Sure..? You aren’t joking, are you.”

“It’s up to you.” Baekhyun answered.

“Do you want to come in?” y/n heard a knock on the door shortly and watched Baekhyun walk in. She took a hand and patted the empty space next to her on the bed, indicating for Baekhyun to sit down. She felt the side of the bed sink as he settled on top of the blanket.

Baekhyun had a beautifully soft voice that waved through the air like the smell of freshly made brownies. Something about it made y/n’s heart swell. He effortlessly made y/n start to feel sleepy with the gentle tone of his voice. y/n clung onto every note as she fell deeper into sleep, Baekhyun’s sweet lullaby dimming into a distant melody in the background. y/n couldn’t remember if she felt a hand, just as soft as his song, delicately stroking her hair until she fell asleep. 

y/n woke up with a start. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at the sunlight pouring in through her curtains. Her head swarmed with the memories of the previous night, of Baekhyun’s arm around hers, of Baekhyun’s presence in her bedroom. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought. She craned her head up at the side of the bed Baekhyun had been laying on the night before. It was empty. He must’ve left after she fell asleep.

Then she wondered why she had woken up without the sound of her alarm blaring in her ear.

Crap, crap, I slept through my alarm, she thought in panic. She had worked the closing shift the night before, so it must be Friday. Shit, my morning shift.

She flailed her arms out of the mound of blankets she was buried under and grabbed her phone on the nightstand. It was 7:30AM, thirty minutes after the beginning of her usual morning shift. She let out a curse again as she scrolled through her messages, expecting a series of texts from Baekhyun demanding of her whereabouts. She was only met with a single text from him:

[are you coming in for your shift today? if not, i got it covered.]

y/n was not about to miss her shift, especially when she had inconvenienced Baekhyun so much the night before. She hurriedly hopped out of bed and headed to the bathroom. She shoved a toothbrush in her mouth, washed her face, and ungracefully pulled on a pair of jeans. She decided the worn down white t-shirt she had on overnight was good enough for work. 

As she opened the door to bolt down to the bakery, she remembered she still had her toothbrush wedged between her teeth. She ran back inside with her shoes still on her feet and quickly washed the foamy toothpaste out of her mouth. 

y/n arrived at the bakery two minutes before the clock hit 8:00 AM, the opening time. Heavy breaths left her lungs from speed walking down the street and trying not to run into busy pedestrians at the same time. 

“...you stayed?! Baekhyun, are you kidding me.” Sehun’s aggravated voice could be heard as soon as y/n entered the store.

“Listen, Sehun. It wasn’t that big of a deal. I left as soon as—” Baekhyun was seemingly trying to calm Sehun down.

y/n interrupted their conversation with a greeting, “Good morning! I’m so sorry I’m late. I got here as fast as I could.”

Sehun glared at y/n. On the other hand, Baekhyun looked happy to see her. 

“y/n! So glad you could make it. Did you sleep well?” Baekhyun asked while y/n grabbed her apron from behind the counter. 

With a hushed voice, y/n responded, “Yeah, thank you so much. I’ll make last night up to you somehow.” She was scared Sehun might overhear their conversation. 

She waited for Baekhyun’s response, but he just stared at her, a slight frown forming on his face. 

“Baekhyun? Is something wrong?”

“Hold on,” Baekhyun murmured. He then reached out a hand towards her, y/n flinching slightly at the motion. He rubbed his thumb across the corner of her mouth, wiping away a streak of dry toothpaste. 

“You got toothpaste right there.” Baekhyun held up his hand for y/n to see and smiled mischievously. 

“Oh.” y/n couldn’t help but slightly get red in embarrassment. 

She glanced behind Baekhyun to see Sehun standing behind them. Sehun met her eyes and pretended to gag.

Her day went by surprisingly quickly. Her mind occasionally wandered from the stalker to the thought of Baekhyun’s hand in her hair last night and on her mouth this morning, but she was able to push it out of the way as she tied her hair and greeted a customer walking into the bakery. 

At the end of her shift, y/n quickly headed back home. She sat down at her desk to get a little bit of studying done for her upcoming exams. She was walking over to her kitchen for her second cup of coffee of the day when she took a look outside her apartment window. The sun was already setting over the horizon, painting the sky in shades of bright pink and orange. 

It was her friend’s birthday, and she was planning to go out tonight, finally a break from school and work. y/n changed into a mini skirt and a warm navy sweater, so that she wouldn’t freeze to death on a fall night. 

y/n arrived at the bar where her friend had booked a room for a party and was met with an excited harmony of greetings and a slam of a hug from the birthday girl, Joohyun. 

“y/n! You finally escaped from work!” Joohyun exclaimed. 

y/n smiled and took in a shot of tequila someone just handed her. The bitter tang made her wince, but Joohyun was right. She decided to let loose for the night. 

After a few more shots in, y/n was ready to go home. She could not pay any attention to any of the conversations that were going on during the party. The music was too loud in her eardrums and the lighting made everything harder to see. y/n’s senses were failing her. 

Suddenly, someone called for her.

She turned towards Joohyun who eagerly opened her mouth, “How is your love life? Seulgi over here got cheated on last month. Yerim just started dating like yesterday. Seungwan is getting fucked left and right. I’m…single as fuck!” Joohyun giggled, clearly drunk. “What about you, y/n? Let me in on the tea.”

y/n wondered if she had any romantic interests right now. She was too high on the alcohol to think before she spoke.

“Hmmm, I think…I find this one guy kinda cute,” y/n felt her face flush, as if it wasn’t red enough already. 

“Oh my, who is it?!” Joohyun nearly squealed and brought the attention of others.

y/n didn’t know if it was okay to talk about how she was lowkey hitting on her boss, but it was too late now. “My boss.”

A hushed gasp left Joohyun’s lips. “The guy at the bakery? With the cutest fucking eyes? Oh my goodness, you do realize, like, half the girls on campus think he’s cute too, right?”

y/n was slightly shocked at the news, but after all, the bakery was just right outside campus so most of their customers were college students.  

“I didn’t realize…” y/n stopped for a few seconds before asking, “Do you think he has a girlfriend right now?” y/n doubted it, but she wouldn’t be surprised if he did. 

Joohyun shrugged and let out another set of giggles. “Please get with him. You guys would be so cute together. Maybe you can convince him to give me free brownies. They’re so good.”

y/n blushed at the thought and downed a shot of lemon flavored vodka that bit at the back of her throat. 

Later that night, y/n was startled by the sound of her doorbell. She stumbled towards the door, puzzled. Her friends usually didn’t randomly pop into her apartment without earlier notice, and she wasn’t expecting any packages this late into the night. Each step got harder and harder to balance on — she was not in the right state of mind to greet guests at the moment.

She stood on tiptoes to look out the peephole. Her breath caught in her throat when she realized it was Baekhyun.

She quickly shimmied her skirt to its original position so she wouldn’t scare Baekhyun by flashing him, and combed through her hair with her hands a few times. She opened the door to reveal a concerned Baekhyun shifting anxiously on his feet. A look of relief washed over his face when he saw y/n, but returned to looking worried when he saw how disheveled she was. 

“Baekhyun? What are you doing here?” y/n asked groggily, although she was more than happy in his presence. She noticed he was hugging a large picnic basket. 

Baekhyun looked at y/n with puppy eyes. Cute, cute, cute., y/n thought.

“I wanted to make sure you got home safely, but you weren’t answering your phone.”

y/n’s heart stupidly fluttered at the fact that Baekhyun was worried for her. “I just went out for the night. Friend’s birthday.” 

She pointed at the picnic basket Baekhyun was holding so dearly. “What’s that?”

Baekhyun grinned shyly. “I…I didn’t want to come empty handed if you were home, so I brought a few things.” His smile widened when she met his eyes, his eyes crinkling into endearing crescent shapes again. Even though she was surprised by his sudden appearance, she couldn’t help but return his smile.

“I figured you might miss being around so many pastries tomorrow, since you have the day off.” Baekhyun said. He opened the picnic basket to reveal an arrangement of cupcakes, cookies, brownies, and every other pastry y/n could ever dream of.

y/n gasped. “Baekhyun, you didn’t have to—”

“I know I didn’t have to. I wanted to.” Baekhyun said firmly. “Can I come in?”

“O-of course.” y/n opened the door wider, taking the picnic basket from him to set down on her dining table. y/n could still feel the booze making her feel like she was floating, but at this point she wasn’t sure if it was Baekhyun or alcohol that was making her head feel dizzy and heart rate elevated. 

Baekhyun walked into her living room, standing in the space he had been in less than 24 hours ago. He looked strangely at home, standing in the middle of her still-messy apartment. 

“I’m going to miss having you around tomorrow.” he said.

“Oh, it’s only a day. I’m sure Sehun will keep you company.” Of course, y/n knew that wasn’t the real reason he’d showed up to her house with a picnic basket. He was worried about her. She had been in bad shape last night, pale and shaking in Baekhyun’s arms even as the police crowded around them. She had barely managed to fall asleep, only able to drift off to the sound of Baekhyun’s soft singing voice.

y/n still couldn’t fathom why anyone, especially someone as attractive as Baekhyun, would care so much about her. She’d never had a guy treat her so well, to the point he would show up at her door with a giant basket full of sweet pastries just to cheer her up. The thought of Baekhyun, carefully gathering each pastry at his bakery to pack into this picnic basket, made her heart ache. She suddenly felt a sting in her eyes and an urge to tear up. Don’t, she warned herself. She had cried in front of him once, and that was already far too many times.

Unfazed by y/n’s sudden silence, Baekhyun casually started talking about what had happened at the bakery after her shift.

“You won’t believe what happened after you left today. Sehun completely messed up the ingredients for the pound cake recipe. I told him it’s three cups of flour, like, five times, but guess what he did. He only added one! I swear, he does it on purpose to spite me sometimes. Then he has the audacity to blame the whole thing on me…”

Baekhyun’s voice faded out into a soft hum in y/n’s ears as she was suddenly overcome with thoughts of Baekhyun that she had pushed to the back of her mind all day. Thoughts of the soft touch of his hand against her back as he held her close to him, the gentle pressure of his fingers as they stroked her hair, his impossibly sweet voice, lulling her to sleep, rushed to the forefront of her mind. The scent of fresh laundry and strawberries that waved through the air with Baekhyun’s every movement didn’t help, either.

“...and then, if that hadn’t been enough, he has the nerve to accidentally spill the bowl of egg yolk on the floor. I almost slipped on it and fell straight on my face in front of everyone. I’m this close to firing this kid, I swear. I would’ve fired him a long time ago if he wasn’t such a good friend.” Baekhyun continued to speak, oblivious to y/n getting more and more flustered by the second.

“Anyways, enough about me and Sehun. How was your day? I see you’ve been studying.” Baekhyun gestured at the huge pile of notebooks and papers that had gathered on top of her small desk by the window.

He looked so lovable in that moment, standing there in her apartment with his hair casually ruffled. His eyes glimmered as he gazed down at her, his lips twisting up to form another smile that made y/n’s stomach fill with butterflies. He was so close, close enough that she could see the tiny mole in the corner of his mouth once again. If she looked closer, she could see another one on the apple of his cheek. She wondered what it would feel like to kiss him. 

Before she could even comprehend what she was doing, she was reaching up on her tiptoes, placing her palms on the sides of his cheeks. She leaned in and pressed her lips against his. Baekhyun made a surprised noise in response. The comforting scent of fabric softener and strawberries became even stronger when she kissed him, but she could smell something sharp and sweeter…was it cinnamon? y/n kissed Baekhyun for a moment longer to make sure, and he let her, holding her arms to keep her there.

When y/n realized what she was doing, she pulled back, breaking their kiss. 

“Shit, shit, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that—” she stammered. She couldn’t believe she had the balls to kiss her boss out of pure impulse. She kept her eyes fixated on her feet in embarrassment. When she gathered the courage to look at Baekhyun, she was surprised to find that his face was shaded in a bright shade of pink, the color that she was expecting her own face to be. He was looking at y/n with a confused look on his face. 

“Uh, I should probably head home,” he said nervously. y/n could see his gaze slightly waver. “I hope you like the pastries…I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Baekhyun rushed across her living room before she could say anything. He shut the door behind him and he was gone.

y/n cringed as she heard her door close shut. Guilt and shame built inside her. She had thought her feelings for Baekhyun had been just a harmless crush, something that she could get over in a few weeks if she tried. She hadn’t expected herself to actually make a move, let alone try to kiss him. How was she going to face him on Monday?

She trudged to her bedroom, flopped down on her bed, and buried her head in her pillow. y/n couldn’t stop her mind from thinking about her lips eagerly pressed against Baekhyun's. She let out a groan. The lingering scent of fabric softener, strawberries, and pastries…Baekhyun was making her feel lightheaded.

A week had gone by, with neither Baekhyun nor y/n willing to talk about the kiss. Only short, formal conversations were exchanged between the two. In fact, Baekhyun seemed to avoid her at all costs, his face turning scarlet whenever she was around and refusing to make eye contact. He shied away from every possible interaction with her. 

Baekhyun also seemed to be making an unusually large amount of mistakes around the bakery in the past week. Spilling drinks all over himself had become a daily occurrence, to the point where Sehun stood by with a mop in his hand every time Baekhyun received a drink order. A few days ago, he had knocked over an entire tray of freshly made eclairs onto the ground. Sehun walked on to the scene and saw a horrifying mess of custard and pastries. He shook his head in disappointment.

“Baekhyun. You’re making rookie mistakes I don’t even make anymore.” Sehun harshly commented. “Is something up? Last time you were this unfocused was when Mina broke up with you.” 

y/n was pretty sure the mistakes he’d been making all week had something to do with the fact that she had kissed him. She felt extreme guilt in the pit of her stomach. He probably felt so uncomfortable around her, but he was too nice to fire her or even say a single word about it. 

One afternoon, as she reached the bakery, she could hear Sehun’s incredulous voice ringing out from the propped open door. “She kissed you?”

y/n flushed. They were talking about her. She heard a furious shushing noise from Baekhyun.

“What the fuck, Baekhyun? When did this happen?”

“Like, a week ago?”

“And you didn’t think to tell me? I fucking knew something happened between you guys! You’ve been acting like a complete idiot around her all week. You know how nauseating it is for me to watch you guys make heart eyes at each other all day, only for you to not make a single move?” Sehun sounded exasperated. “I swear to god, if you spill another drink because you’re too busy staring at her, I’m going to quit—”

Sehun stopped talking once he saw y/n walk through the door. Baekhyun looked up, his face turning the usual shade of pink when he saw her.

“Hi,” she said nervously.

“Good afternoon.” Baekhyun said, his hair falling slightly into his eyes as he looked back down at his hands. Sehun took a look at y/n, then at Baekhyun, before letting out an annoyed groan.

“y/n, get your ass over here. I need help in the kitchen.” Sehun announced, making his way into the kitchen without another word.

y/n gave Baekhyun an awkward smile before she followed Sehun into the kitchen. Sehun was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, a frown on his face.

“What do you need help with?” she asked.

“Our boss is in love with you, fix it.” Sehun said too casually.

“What?”

“I’m just kidding, I don’t actually know if he’s in love with you yet. He definitely likes you, though.” Sehun said, sparing a glance out the kitchen door to look at Baekhyun. “He’s been acting like a dumbass all week. Because of you.” Sehun pointed a finger at her.

y/n’s head spun. She doubted that Baekhyun even had an ounce of feelings for her, but she remembered that Sehun had known Baekhyun for far longer than she had. If Baekhyun had feelings for her, even by a slim chance, then surely Sehun would know. She felt a sliver of hope rise in her chest.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” she muttered, but Sehun gave her an incredulous look.

“I pretend I don’t give a shit ninety percent of the time, but Baekhyun is one of my oldest friends. He had a really bad breakup a couple years ago, and he hasn’t been the same ever since. I don’t think he’s had a single girlfriend since then. I just—” Sehun trailed off, scratching the back of his neck. “I care about him, okay? I want him to find someone, so if you’re the one he’s into, then I wish you would give him a chance. That’s all. Not that you have to, of course. I completely understand if you don't. He can be a shithead sometimes.” 

“What are you guys doing in there?” Baekhyun’s voice sounded from the counter.

“Just think about it.” Sehun sighed before walking over to the register, leaving her standing in the middle of the kitchen, more confused than ever.

The rest of the shift went by swimmingly. Sehun left a couple hours later to head to class, giving her a knowing look before heading out. y/n felt both anticipation and nervousness at the thought of being alone with Baekhyun. The bakery was completely empty, save for a couple sitting in a secluded booth in the back.

Baekhyun was in the kitchen, staring at a batch of cookies that was almost ready to come out of the oven. You should at least talk to him, y/n told herself words of encouragement. Despite what Sehun had said, y/n wasn’t entirely sure that Baekhyun actually liked her romantically. After all, he hadn’t kissed her back that night. That’s because you pulled away before he could even do anything, reasoned a small voice in her mind. She shook the thought away. She couldn’t make any assumptions before she talked to him. The last thing she wanted to do was make him uncomfortable.

She slowly made her way into the kitchen. “Um, can I talk to you?” she asked.

Baekhyun looked up and nodded. He looked absolutely adorable, as he usually did, with his hair slightly ruffled right above his dark eyebrows and his light blue button-down slightly wrinkled under his apron.

“Hey, I realized we haven’t been able to talk to each other recently.” y/n cringed as she said. “And I bet it’s because I, uh, kissed you that night when you came to my apartment. I just wanted to say sorry again, that was so unprofessional of me, and I shouldn’t have done that. I really like working here, so I hope you don’t fire me or anything, but if you want to, I completely understand.” 

Baekhyun looked completely dumbfounded. He stared at her with wide eyes, his mouth hanging open a little.

“What are you talking about?”

“You’ve been avoiding me all week! You barely talk to me, even when it’s only the two of us here, and you wouldn’t even look at me! I…I just feel like I’ve made you feel so uncomfortable, with, you know, what I did. I’m so sorry. If you want to pretend it never happened, that’s fine with me. I just wanted to apologize—” y/n nervously kept rambling on and on, fearing what was to come next. Her face was a bright red by now, she was sure of it. She wiped her palm on her jeans, wondering if the rising heat of the room was because of the oven, or if it was just her imagination.

Baekhyun shifted a few steps closer to her. y/n could barely manage to look up at him. 

“Why in the world would I fire you? I love having you here, you never have to worry about that.” he said sincerely. “And besides, I don’t want to pretend it never happened.”

“W-what?” she could only manage to say.

Baekhyun was getting noticeably red. “I said, I don’t want to pretend it never happened.” 

y/n’s brain ceased to work. They stood in silence as she struggled to comprehend what Baekhyun had just said.

“Can we kiss again, or was that a one time thing?” he asked, his voice barely louder than a whisper. 

Baekhyun nervously bit the bottom of his lip, his mole more apparent above his mouth now, reminding y/n of that night again. y/n’s heart was doing jumping jacks in her chest. No, she wouldn’t mind kissing Baekhyun a few more times. 

“Yes,” she answered, “we can kiss again.”

He closed the gap between them in seconds. He reached out to gently cup her face in his hands, his brown eyes boring into hers. He craned his head down to lightly brush his lips against hers. y/n held her breath as Baekhyun shifted slightly to fit her lips better. His hands trailed down from her face, coming to rest on her sides. She felt herself sigh against his mouth as she stood on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck, feeling his soft lips against her.

He tilted his head to the side to deepen the kiss, his tongue sweeping across her lips and parting her mouth. She thought she heard something ring in the background, but she forgot about it instantly when she lightly bit at Baekhyun’s bottom lip, and he let out a quiet moan in the back of his throat.

“I think the cookies are burning,” y/n managed to say between a mess of their lips when the room started to fill up with smoke. Baekhyun reluctantly pulled back, his hands still gently gripping her sides.

“Oh, no.” he groaned, burying his face in the nook where y/n’s neck and shoulder met. He opened the oven, letting a gush of smoke blow out. 

“Reminds me of your first day here.” Baekhyun commented playfully.

“I was surprised you didn’t fire me on the spot.” y/n cringed.

“You were too cute to fire over some burnt cookies.” He gave her a shy smile before taking the cookies out. They were burnt to a crisp once again. At least this time it wasn’t all her fault.

y/n had just plopped down onto her couch after a long day at school when her phone started ringing. Her stomach fluttered with butterflies when she saw the name Baekhyun flashing on her phone screen.

“Hi, Baekhyun,” y/n answered.

“y/n, are you free this weekend?” Baekhyun asked.

y/n thought about her schedule for a few seconds before answering. “Hm, I don’t have a whole lot to do. I just finished this big assignment today, thank god.”

“Great! Well…” Baekhyun hesitated. “Would you like to come over? I can make us dinner, maybe watch a movie…”

“I would love to!” y/n said a little too enthusiastically, a silly smile taking over her face.

“Does Saturday at seven sound good?”

“Mmhmm,” she hummed, trying to imagine Baekhyun with the same goofy smile on his face. Her heart warmed at the thought.

“It’s a date.” he added before hanging up. y/n’s breath caught in her throat. She tried her very best to not squeal with excitement like a teenager.

The rest of the week seemed to pass by in a blur as she counted the days to her date with Baekhyun. Before she knew it, she was nervously standing in front of Baekhyun’s door, waiting for him to answer. It’s only Baekhyun, she told herself reassuringly, you literally see him every other day.

y/n’s heart still did flips in her chest when Baekhyun answered the door, inviting her in with a sunny smile. He looked handsome as usual, with his hair styled and a baby blue sweater comfortably hugging his lean figure. His apartment was small but cozy, not much bigger than hers. Soft browns and blues adorned parts of the apartment. She could see touches of his personality around the place, from a framed photo of him with Sehun and two other guys, to a colorful apron hanging on a hook by the kitchen. y/n hadn’t realized that Baekhyun’s apartment would smell exactly how he did, except the fragrance of strawberries stood out more intensely over the smell of fresh laundry.

She walked in a little further to be met with a table with two plates of roasted steak and vegetables, softly lit by candlelights.

“I hope you like the menu.” Baekhyun commented. There was no way y/n wasn’t going to like the menu — she already knew she was going to love everything Baekhyun cooked.

“Wow, Baekhyun. This looks really good.” y/n complimented him as he pulled out a chair for her. She sat down, admiring not only the food, but also the beautifully set table with a small floral centerpiece. 

“I would make an amazing house-husband.” Baekhyun said with a wink, making her chuckle.

“Shall we dig in?” y/n asked, fork and knife ready in her hands. 

Baekhyun nodded. He waited for y/n to cut a small piece of her steak and put it in her mouth. 

“Is it good?” Baekhyun looked at y/n, anxiously waiting for an answer.

“I haven’t even started chewing,” y/n said, covering her mouth with her hand.

“Oh.” Baekhyun’s face reddened as he realized hadn’t given her the chance to fully taste her food before asking. 

After a few moments, y/n’s eyes widened at the tenderness of the steak. It was seasoned perfectly, too. “It’s delicious,” she complemented, “maybe you should’ve opened a restaurant instead of a bakery.”

“I learned how to cook from my grandma,” Baekhyun explained, “she lives in Gangwon-do! I visit her every now and then.”

This was y/n’s first time hearing about Baekhyun’s family. She listened with curiosity. 

“She makes amazing Korean dishes, but I swear she can cook the best steak. She can do Chinese, Japanese, Italian…the list goes on. My personal favorite is her soybean paste stew.” 

y/n watched Baekhyun get lost in the thought of his grandmother and her cooking. It was sort of endearing and y/n could imagine Baekhyun adorably waiting at the dinner table for his grandmother to bring out delicious plates of his favorite food. “Wow, I can only imagine.”

“You should come with me to visit her sometime.” Baekhyun commented casually.

y/n’s heart stirred as she wondered what that could mean for them. 

The meal went by pleasantly, filled with soft laughter and conversation. Baekhyun fondly mentioned how he had known Sehun for years, and y/n’s eyes sparkled in interest; she had always wondered how he and Sehun had become so close.

“You and Sehun seem really close — close considering you guys work together, I mean.”

Baekhyun nodded. “We grew up together back when I lived with my grandma. My parents were busy working 24/7, so they thought it would be better to have her take care of me. Sehun lived next door to our place until I had to move out for college, so I guess it was natural that we grew close.”

y/n had no clue that their relationship went far back. “What about now? How is he working for you?”

Baekhyun grinned as he reminisced about the past. “Ah, I visited my grandma one year and he was still living next door, freshly out of high school. He was about to head off to college in the city, so I asked him to come work in my bakery as a part timer. He said no at first, of course, but he caved in after I bribed him with a few cups of his favorite chocolate bubble tea.”

y/n giggled at the image of Sehun grumpily agreeing to work for Baekhyun as he sipped on the drink. 

“What about you, y/n?” Baekhyun asked as he forked a piece of asparagus.

“Me?”

“I feel like I’ve been only talking about myself.” Baekhyun pointed out. “Do you have any close friends?”

Joohyun’s face immediately surfaced to y/n’s mind. “Joohyun! We’ve been friends since high school. We ended up at the same college together, although I don’t see her that often. She’s an art history major, and I’m studying psychology, so we don’t have that many chances to see each other on campus. We’re both so busy these days.”

“I know how that feels,” Baekhyun said wistfully, “my two best friends from high school — Chanyeol and Kyungsoo — work in different cities, so I find that it’s hard to see them. I should call them to catch up sometime…they might tell me to fuck off, though.”

As Baekhyun and y/n worked through their meal, y/n found out that Baekhyun’s ultimate goal was to open a chain of bakeries across the country.

“It’s unrealistic — the bakery only started doing well about a year ago, so I don’t want to jinx it or anything. Not a lot of people make it in this business. But it’s my dream.” Baekhyun said, looking a bit flustered. 

y/n reached out and placed her hand over his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Hey, I know you can do it.” she told him. 

Baekhyun gave her a warm look, his eyes gleaming in the soft glow of the candles.

They conversed non-stop through the rest of their dinner, discussing what the best dessert at the bakery was, how Sehun never trusted her with the oven anymore, and whether y/n was ever going to manage to learn the meticulous task of latte art. When their plates emptied and stomachs were satisfied, they made their way over to the blue velvet couch in his living room. 

“Rom-com? Or horror?” Baekhyun held up two DVD cases for y/n to see.

“Who uses DVDs these days?” y/n jokingly remarked. “Doesn’t everyone use Netflix? Or Hulu?”

Baekhyun grumbled that he liked the manual labor of playing a DVD. He inserted the rom-com into his DVD player and settled on the couch beside her. He scooted closer to drape his arm around y/n’s shoulders. She fit perfectly in his embrace and snuggled into him, tucking her face into the side of his chest. His hands started playing with her hair and she giggled softly. Cuddling with Baekhyun was nice. She indulged in the scent of him, the usual aroma of fresh laundry and strawberries. 

“I’m so glad you started working for us at the bakery.” Baekhyun said in a tentative tone.

The following gap of silence told y/n that Baekhyun had something more to say, but was careful with being too upfront about his feelings. y/n craned her neck and kissed Baekhyun boldly on the lips. His eyes widened slightly and his cheeks flushed at her assertiveness. “I’m glad that I met you.” she told him.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is that…I like you,” Baekhyun mumbled, face still red, “this sounds selfish, but I like having you in my life. I keep getting a bit flustered when you’re around — you make me feel like I’m having a crush, like I’m in high school again.”

Baekhyun buried his face in his hand in embarrassment. y/n’s lips tugged into a heartwarming smile at Baekhyun’s confession.

y/n felt an urge to tease him for being so straightforward with her. “Is that all?” she asked.

Baekhyun lifted his head out of his hand to see y/n eagerly waiting for a response. “I-I’ve been feeling this way ever since you started working at the bakery. I just can’t seem to take my eyes off of you. At first, I thought it was because I was worried that you might make a mistake and hurt yourself — but then I started searching for you even when it wasn’t your shift. It’s okay if you don’t feel as strongly as I do, but I just wanted to make my feelings clear—”

y/n stopped his words with another kiss, this time longer. “I feel the same way, Baekhyun.”

y/n could’ve sworn that Baekhyun’s smile when she pulled away was bright enough to rival the sun.

The next morning, y/n walked to the bakery with an elated bounce in her step. The sun shone down beamingly onto the pretty autumn day, bright foliage lining the sidewalk. Whether the world actually looked beautiful that day, or if it just looked extra beautiful to her because of her happy mood, she did not know.

“Hi, y/n.” Baekhyun beamed and waved when y/n walked in, his face a light shade of pink. She saw Sehun standing besides him, rolling his eyes.

“Good morning!” y/n waved back with a smile on her face. Baekhyun seemed to be in a sunny mood today. He was softly humming along to a pop song playing in the background as he expertly made a caramel macchiato. Thankfully, he didn’t spill it this time, even with y/n around. 

“You guys seem cheery today.” Sehun noted, raising his eyebrows suspiciously. Baekhyun gave him an innocent smile as he handed the drink to a customer.

y/n’s shift passed by normally, everything the same as usual save for Baekhyun’s occasional glances and crescent-shaped smiles in her direction. Due to the upcoming midterms week, there were more students than usual pouring through the door of the bakery, grabbing a cup of coffee before they headed off to the nearby library.

There was finally a little break around lunchtime, when the flow of customers seemed to cease. The bakery was empty for the first time that day. y/n and Baekhyun stood by the register while Sehun went in the kitchen to ice a cake in chocolate ganache.

She turned to her right to see Baekhyun standing next to her, his head cocked to the side to look at y/n. He grinned and proceeded to plant a kiss on her cheek. “How’s your day going, love?” 

y/n blushed and shared a wide smile with Baekhyun. “I’m a little tired, but everything is going well! I managed to serve an iced latte in under three minutes today. Are you proud of me?”

Baekhyun booped y/n’s nose with his forefinger. “Yes, I am so proud.”

y/n let out a yawn. She had stayed up nearly all night after her date, trying to finish her assignments and study for her exam. The memory of Baekhyun had kept her in a good mood all morning despite her tiredness, but she felt the exhaustion finally settling into her body after the rush of customers.

“I’ll make you a coffee,” Baekhyun said, noticing her yawn. He made his way over to the espresso machine.

He was about to press the button on the machine when she walked over to wrap her arms around his waist from behind. She buried her face in his broad back, his frame lean but firm against her. She gently tickled his stomach and he let out a quiet laugh.

“Thank you,” she said softly, breathing in his scent.

“Oh my god, can you guys stop having sex in front of me?!” Sehun exclaimed. y/n and Baekhyun sprang apart, their faces scarlet. Sehun had just come out of the kitchen cautiously carrying a three-layer chocolate cake.

“We were just—” Baekhyun began, but Sehun interrupted.

“I will not stand being the third wheel of this bakery.” Sehun huffed, placing the cake down on the counter. He glared at them.

Baekhyun gave Sehun an annoyed look. “You know I’m the owner of this bakery, right? I make the rules.”

“Oh, so when I decide to wear sandals to work, I’m being unprofessional, but you guys can have a makeout session behind the register and it’s completely fine?” Sehun said angrily. 

y/n couldn’t help but giggle at Sehun’s reaction. He gave off the vibe of a little kid being annoyed at his parents for being affectionate to each other. 

“Aw, Sehun, are you sad that we don’t give you hugs?” y/n pouted, walking over to Sehun with her arms outstretched.

“No way. We are coworkers.” Sehun said coldly, running away to avoid her. y/n and Baekhyun laughed.

Their laughter was cut short when the door chimed and a young woman walked in. Baekhyun’s lips turned into a flat line.

She was tall, a couple inches taller than y/n maybe, and thin. Her hair was long and bleached blonde, tumbling down her shoulders in loose waves. She took no time to stride straight over to the register, where Baekhyun was standing, frozen in place. Her high heels clicked noisily against the wood flooring of the bakery. She looked at Baekhyun with an unreadable look on her face.

Sehun quietly cursed under his breath.

“Hi, Baekhyun.” she finally said after a prolonged silence, her voice hesitant.

“Mina,” Baekhyun breathed, “what are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you,” she said, glancing over at y/n and Sehun, “maybe in private.”

Baekhyun stood, unblinking, still as a statue. His face was blank as he silently walked over to Mina. They sat down in a booth near the back of the bakery.

Once they were out of earshot, y/n turned to Sehun. He looked just as frozen as Baekhyun had been.

“Who’s that?” she asked, but she felt she already knew the answer.

“That’s Baekhyun’s ex, Mina, the one I told you about.” Sehun explained, eyes ladened in worry. “They met in college and dated for a little over two years. They went through a really bad breakup a few years ago and no one knows why. All I know is that he gets extremely agitated whenever someone brings her up. I have no idea why she’s here, he hasn’t seen her for years. She moved to another city not long after they broke up. For all I know, she’s a cold-hearted bitch.”

y/n nodded. She looked over at the booth where Baekhyun and Mina were talking in hushed voices. They sat across from each other, deep in conversation. Baekhyun had a bitter, almost chilling look on his face. 

“They were really serious. I remember they were even talking about getting married at one point. She better not be here trying to get back together with him or anything. He was heartbroken after they broke up.” Sehun followed y/n’s gaze to look suspiciously at Mina. It was times like this when y/n realized that beneath Sehun’s bratty persona, he actually cared about Baekhyun a lot. “She left him to be miserable on his own. If she’s trying to get him back, she better watch her back.”

Mina left after about twenty minutes. Baekhyun came back to the register, running his hand through his hair distractedly. He had a pained look on his face.

“What did she want?” Sehun asked, his arms crossed disapprovingly.

“I-it’s nothing for you to worry about.” Baekhyun said, barely making eye contact. “Sehun, can you take the closing shift today?”

“What? Why?”

“Something came up.” Baekhyun gave Sehun a look that seemed to mean something to Sehun. Sehun’s eyes softened. “Please?”

“Fine.” Sehun grumbled. y/n was surprised that Sehun agreed with little convincing. Sehun would’ve normally put up a fight, requiring Baekhyun to bribe him in some way.

Baekhyun was silent for the rest of the shift. y/n and Sehun walked on eggshells around him, careful not to say anything about Mina. They could tell her visit had put a lot on his mind. Baekhyun merely nodded or shook his head whenever he was asked something, and repeatedly stared out the window, deep in thought. 

“Hey Baekhyun, is everything okay?” y/n asked hesitantly.

Baekhyun looked at y/n and weakly smiled. “Yeah.”

y/n waited for Baekhyun to start talking about what was on his mind. “Mina, the girl that just came here, is my ex, if you couldn’t already tell.” He let out a heavy sigh before continuing. “We were pretty serious. Almost got married…but it didn’t work out. I don’t know why she suddenly showed up today. I really don’t want anything to do with her anymore.”

y/n appreciated his honesty, but didn’t know what to say.

“I’ll tell you more later if you want.” Baekhyun shared another smile with y/n when he sensed a bit of awkwardness between them. 

y/n tried not to think too much about what had happened with Baekhyun and Mina. She found it unsettling that Mina had visited him out of the blue, but she figured that Baekhyun would talk to her about it when he was ready. Still unnerved from the incident with Mina, y/n left the bakery around midafternoon, heading to the library to get a little studying done before her evening class.

Baekhyun had no idea why Mina had randomly popped into his bakery without warning, and asked him to meet her at a Italian restaurant with three Michelin stars halfway across town. He let out an annoyed sigh as he turned the steering wheel of his car to pull into a small parking lot. He would’ve much preferred to be back at his bakery at that moment. He already felt bad about forcing Sehun to work the closing shift.

Mina was already sitting down at a table by the window. Her face lit up when she saw him. Baekhyun internally groaned, and made his way over to the table.

“I was surprised you said yes to this dinner,” Mina chirped.

Baekhyun pulled out his chair and sat down hastily. “I’m not going to stay for long. Ten minutes and I have to go back to work.”

Mina raised her eyebrows. “Don’t you have two people working for you now?”

“What do you want?” Baekhyun was not going to entertain her.

Conveniently for Mina, a waiter interrupted them with two plates of carbonara. Mina gave the waiter a small thank you when he placed the plates in front of her and Baekhyun.

“I got carbonara, your favorite.”

Baekhyun stared at Mina in disbelief. “Can you please tell me why you invited me to dinner so we can part ways?” 

Mina sighed. “I’m getting married, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun held his breath. He did not expect to hear that at all. 

“Congratulations. I bet he will treat you well.” Baekhyun said flatly.

Mina took a sip of her wine and eyed the ring on her left hand. She held it up for Baekhyun to see, a perfectly cut diamond glimmering in all angles. “Quite frankly, I don’t want this.”

“It’s a pretty ring.” Baekhyun commented.

Mina let out a dry laugh. “I missed you, Baekhyun.”

As if the night wasn’t already a series of surprising events, this comment was by far the worst one yet. Baekhyun deeply sighed in agony. Mina had left him to be lonely and heartbroken when he was in one of his darkest times. He couldn’t possibly understand how she managed to shamelessly act like nothing had happened between them.

“What the fuck are you saying, Mina? We broke up a long time ago. You’re getting married.” Baekhyun’s voice rose. “I’m also taken.” 

Mina grabbed Baekhyun’s hand across the table. “I won’t marry him if you’re willing to give us another chance. I can break the engagement if we get back together, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun’s jaw clenched at the offer. Mina hadn’t been like this when they first started dating. She was selfless, kind, and did what was best for those she loved. He saw nothing but a shell of her former self in front of him now. 

He ripped his hand out from under hers. “Look, we were over once you decided I wasn’t good enough for you.” He took a moment before continuing to say, “I’m sorry that you’ve gotten yourself in a loveless marriage and you had to stoop this low. You weren’t like this before. What happened?”

“I love Junmyeon, I really do. It’s just…it’s just that I can’t marry him, without knowing what things could’ve been like between us if we had never broken up.” she said, her voice slightly trembling.

Baekhyun let out a bitter, humorless laugh. “You wanted nothing to do with me back when I was just a broke college dropout, remember? Now you see that my bakery is doing well, and all the sudden, you want back in my life?”

Baekhyun immediately worried that he was being a bit too harsh when he saw how Mina looked taken aback by his words.

“I regret how things ended between us more than anything in my life, Baekhyun—” she started to say.

Then his phone started ringing. Baekhyun gave a quick glance to the caller ID before answering. “Hello?”

His eyes widened and shot out of his chair. “I’m on my way.”

Without a single word to Mina, Baekhyun rushed out of the restaurant. 

y/n had called Baekhyun, telling him that the stalker showed up again. She had been surprised by Baekhyun’s response over the phone; she hadn’t expected him to drop everything he was doing and make his way to her immediately. y/n fidgeted nervously as she waited for him to show up.

By the time y/n saw Baekhyun running into the lobby of the building, the police had already gotten there and dragged the stalker away. A small crowd gathered around the police and y/n, who was being asked questions by a police officer. Baekhyun looked panicked when he saw an ambulance and a few paramedics on the scene. He pushed past the crowd and rushed to y/n, taking her hand into his. His eyes searched her face, desperate to make sure she wasn’t hurt.

“Are you okay?” He was panting a little from having run across campus. 

“Yeah, I’m fine, really. I just got a little bit scratched on my wrists. An ambulance was called just in case.” y/n was quick to assure Baekhyun, but at y/n’s words, Baekhyun gently lifted her hand to examine her wrists, slightly red and bruised. His eyes looked worried and a little glassy, like he was about to tear up. 

“What happened exactly?” he asked.

y/n slowly explained what had happened. She had noticed someone following her after class. When she turned the corner into an empty hallway, the stalker grabbed her by the wrists, slamming her onto the wall. y/n fought back, trying to escape his grip, but before she could scream for help, he pressed his palm over her mouth. Thankfully, after a few moments of kicking and yelling into the stalker’s hand, a student passing by noticed the scene and immediately called the police.

“Apparently he’s actually in my class, but he’s been following me around campus and to the bakery. The police arrested him.” she explained, squeezing Baekhyun into a hug. She didn’t want him to be so concerned when he didn’t have to be. She was just glad that the police had finally caught the stalker.

Baekhyun, one hand on the back of y/n’s head, tightened his other arm around her back and mumbled, “I don’t know what I would’ve done if…if he had…”

“Shh,” y/n shushed Baekhyun who was trembling more than she was now. “I’m fine, Baekhyun.” She pulled back to look at Baekhyun's eyes to reassure him and stood her tiptoes to give him a small kiss on the lips. She didn’t feel him relax against her as he usually did. His expression was still stiff, even stiffer than it had been back at the bakery.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, confused. Was he still upset about what had happened with Mina? 

Baekhyun scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Let’s talk about this in the car.” he said.

Baekhyun led her to the police officer that had been talking to y/n to make sure they could leave. They walked in silence with their hands intertwined to where Baekhyun’s car had been parked across campus.

She climbed into the passenger seat. Baekhyun placed his hands on the steering wheel without turning on the ignition. She could see a deep frown creasing his forehead. His fingers gripped the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles turning white.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” y/n asked carefully.

“I’m fine. I’m not the one that just got attacked, y/n. Don’t worry about me,” he replied, but his shaky voice and white knuckles said otherwise.

“Can I ask you something?” 

Baekhyun nodded without looking at her. 

“Why did you ask Sehun to take the closing shift?” she asked. She could hear Baekhyun draw in a sharp breath and shift his grip on the steering wheel.

Before he could reply, his phone started ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket, and the screen briefly flashed in her direction. Mina, it was hard to ignore the four white letters stark against it’s dark background. y/n’s stomach churned uncomfortably.

“Hello?” he answered curtly. She could hear Mina’s voice on the other line. She sounded worried.

“Something came up and I had to leave,” he said, “everything’s fine. No, there’s no need to stop by my place. I’m fine. Please, I don’t want to see you again, okay?”

Baekhyun hung up after a few moments. He let out a heavy sigh, leaning his head back against the headrest of his car. Neither of them spoke for a while.

“Was that Mina?” y/n asked, her voice barely audible. Baekhyun flinched at the sound of her name.

“Yes.” he said darkly.

“Oh,” was all that y/n could manage to say.

Something came up and I had to leave, he had said. y/n couldn’t help but feel a worrying question gnawing at the back of her head. She knew she wouldn’t be able to rest until she knew the answer. “Were you with her when I called you?”

Baekhyun looked blankly at his hands on the steering wheel. “Yes,” he finally said after a moment of hesitation. “I was having dinner with her.”

y/n felt an unbearable sting in her chest as her suspicion proved to be true. She knew Mina had wanted to talk to him back at the bakery. She had gotten the impression that Baekhyun wasn’t pleased about her visit, but she didn’t think that Baekhyun would want to see Mina again.

“I…I wish you would’ve told me,” she said quietly. She didn’t want to start a fight, she really didn’t. Besides, it wasn’t like she and Baekhyun had agreed to become exclusive or anything. But she couldn’t help but be a little upset at the fact that he had agreed to have dinner with Mina without telling her.

“I’m sorry.” he apologized, meeting her eyes for the first time in a while. They were still a bit glassy and red, staring at her sadly.

y/n wasn’t only upset with Baekhyun, but she was also upset at herself for getting involved in this situation in the first place. She didn’t want to be stuck in the middle between them, between a relationship that had lasted far longer than the amount of time she’d even known Baekhyun.

Baekhyun studied her face. “I should tell you about what happened in the past.” he said. y/n nodded, and he started to tell the history between him and Mina.

“I met Mina in my first year of college. She was a few years older than me. She had everything already figured out — what kind of job she wanted to have, what kind of life she wanted for herself — and I was just lost. I found some comfort in that she was so secure with herself because I wasn’t at the time. Everything seemed great at first. I’d never dated anyone seriously until that point, so I had no idea what to even expect out of a relationship, but I thought I was in love with her.

“Then right before our two-year anniversary, she started talking about marriage. Dropping hints about wedding dresses and engagement rings and all that. I definitely wasn’t ready to get married, I had no idea what I was even doing with my life. She was so disappointed when I didn’t propose on our anniversary.

“That was when I told her that I was going to drop out of college. I had felt like I was living a lie during my entire time there. I didn’t care about my major at all, and the thought of working in an office made me miserable. The only dream I’ve ever had in my life was to open my own bakery. I had expected her to at least be supportive of my dream. I thought she at least loved me that much.” Baekhyun hung his head and looked down at his lap bitterly. y/n’s heart ached at the look on his face. Baekhyun let out a sigh and continued on.

“She basically told me that my dream would never come true, that I would never save enough money to even come close to opening a bakery. She said even if I somehow managed to open a bakery, it would go out of business in months. She begged me to stay in college and study finance, said her family would never accept a husband with an unrealistic dream and no security blanket. She said we could get married when I graduated and got a job.

“I refused. I had already lost sight of my dream for twenty years. I wasn’t going to do it any longer. When she realized I wasn’t going to change my mind, she broke up with me. She got a job offer in a different city and moved away. I hadn’t seen her again since then…until today.”

Baekhyun’s eyes were full of tears now. y/n’s heart broke for him as a drop escaped, streaking down his cheek. She automatically reached out to take his hand in hers. The soft sound of his sniffle and the tremble of his hands told her only a fraction of the heartbreak that Baekhyun had experienced. There was nothing she could say that could undo what had happened to him. All she could do was hold his hand, and be there for him.

Baekhyun’s shoulders shook as he let out a quiet sob. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cry…you’ve been through enough today. Watching me cry is probably the last thing you want to do.”

“Don’t ever apologize for showing your emotions.” y/n told him, gripping his hand tighter.

y/n finally understood why Baekhyun had been so shaken by Mina’s sudden appearance. Mina had taken his heart, smashed it, and left before he could even pick up the broken pieces. For her to show up out of the blue, acting like nothing had happened, y/n could tell why Baekhyun had been so upset. 

“She asked me to have dinner with her when she came to the bakery. I said yes, thinking I would finally get closure. I thought she would finally apologize for the terrible things she’d said. I should’ve told you then, I’m sorry.” he said through his quiet whimpers. “Instead, she told me she’s getting married. She asked me to take her back. She told me she wouldn’t marry her fiancé if I gave her another chance.”

y/n sat, frozen in shock. She couldn’t quite believe her ears. Anger rose in her chest. How could Mina be so selfish?

“I said no, of course, but I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that she thinks so little of me, that she would think I’d jump at the chance to get back together with her, after all that she did…”

y/n leaned across the console of the car to wrap her arms around his shoulders. He buried his face against her neck, letting his tears freely fall now. y/n didn’t mind that her shirt was wet with his tears, she just wanted to take away all the pain in his heart. She brushed her hands against the broad expanse of his back, rubbing gentle circles. Her heart broke for him again at the sound of his broken sobs.

y/n couldn’t help but feel an uneasiness rising from the pit of her stomach. She thought that she had found what she had been looking for the past twenty-two years of her life, in Baekhyun — but the doubts that the appearance of Mina had sowed in her grew after listening to Baekhyun. She couldn’t tell if he still had feelings for Mina or not. More importantly, y/n didn’t know if she could be there for Baekhyun. She had no idea if she could be the one to fix what Mina had broken in him.

y/n wondered if she was just being selfish. Yes, she liked Baekhyun a lot, but she wasn’t sure if now was the best time to jump into a relationship with him when he was still healing from his last heartbreak. Everything about it felt overwhelming now. y/n genuinely appreciated Baekhyun’s honesty, but at the same time, she felt distant from him. Baekhyun’s story had made her realize how little she actually knew about him. She had no idea of who he was in the past, and hearing the truth felt like a burden. Could she be the one to fix his heart? 

y/n wasn’t sure if Baekhyun was what she was looking for in a relationship anymore.

She slowly pulled back from Baekhyun’s arms when his sobs died down, replaced by soft sniffles. “I-I need some time to process this.” she said tentatively.

Baekhyun blinked, his eyes swollen red and his cheeks tear streaked. “What?” The sight of Baekhyun in tears made y/n’s heart ache.

“I’m sorry…I really hate to do this, Baekhyun. But I don’t know if I can do whatever this is between us. I need time to think, and I think you do, too.” Her own eyes stung, filling up with tears of their own. She couldn’t bear to look at him. She felt sick. What she was doing was selfish; she was trying to protect herself because she feared commitment to Baekhyun.

When she finally braced herself to look up at him, his eyes were red-rimmed, shimmering with tears. “...I understand.” he said in a breathy voice. 

Eventually, y/n silently got out of the car and ignored how much she regretted her decision to leave Baekhyun all alone. She hurriedly ran across campus and back to her apartment. She only managed to fall asleep that night when her eyes were red and swollen from crying.

y/n requested the rest of the week off, claiming that she needed time to study for her exams. She hadn’t been entirely lying; she desperately needed to study. But that reason paled in comparison to her compulsive need to avoid Baekhyun at all costs.

Thinking of Baekhyun clouded her heart with so many emotions that she couldn’t even begin to process. She had felt so cruel, leaving him behind in his car with tears falling down his cheeks, when he had poured his heart out in front of her just moments before. It was as if he had taken his heart out of its carefully guarded cage and handed it to her, only for her to abandon it. Her chest filled with guilt just thinking about it. The reasonable, practical side of her heart, however, told her that they both needed time on their own to collect their thoughts before making rash decisions.

The week passed by uneventfully with y/n spending most of her time in either class or the library. She tried her very best to push away every thought of Baekhyun. She was walking to class one day when she received a text from Joohyun, asking her if she wanted to have dinner. She brightened at the chance to see her friend. She was desperately in need of a distraction.

y/n walked into a dimly lit restaurant that apparently served the best gourmet burgers in town. Joohyun animatedly waved her over to their table.

“Joohyun, how’s it going?” y/n asked as she hung her coat on the chair. 

Joohyun rubbed her stomach and complained, “I’m so goddamn hungry. Let’s order.”

By the time their food was served, they were deep into conversation about their lives. y/n had expected Joohyun, who loved to gossip, to hit her with the relationship question — and she wasn’t wrong.

“So…any updates about you and the cute baker boss?” Joohyun smiled slyly and wiggled her eyebrows.

y/n nearly choked on her food. “W-we aren’t together.”

Disappointment took over Joohyun’s face. “Are you serious? I told you guys would make a cute couple! Really, nothing happened?” Joohyun pressed for answers.

“We did kiss.” y/n finally admitted. 

Joohyun giggled in excitement. “Oh my, tell me all the details! Just once? There's no way you only managed to kiss that cute boy only once.”

y/n explained to her a rough sketch of what had happened, but wasn’t sure if she should include the detail about their time away from each other. “We…aren’t exactly on good terms right now.”

Joohyun, who was listening attentively, slammed her palm on the table. Her mug of beer made a little splash at the force. “What? How could you not be on good terms right now?” 

y/n internally cringed. “I know. Everything seemed to be going well until his ex showed up.”

“His ex?” Joohyun’s eyes widened. “I hate a man with a messy past.”

“It’s not that messy.” y/n wondered. Was it really?

Joohyun shook her head in disapproval. “So, you guys are on a break right now?”

y/n nodded bitterly and sipped on her mug of beer, halfway empty now. 

“You shied away from commitment, right,” Joohyun said almost conclusively. “I know you.”

y/n nodded again, but this time hung her head and said, “I don’t know what to do. I really like him, but do I have it in me to commit to all sides of him? He seemed like he’s so bright and easy-going all the time. I had no idea about his past and how heartbroken he was. I don’t know if I can be the one to support him, even through all his dark times. What if I hurt him too? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself knowing that I broke his heart, even just a little bit.”

“Aw, y/n.” Joohyun picked up y/n’s hand and made y/n meet eyes with her. “You have a good heart. You should know that. I’m sure your relationship with him will have its ups and downs — as all relationships do.”

y/n felt her eyes tear up. Joohyun’s assurance was exactly what she had been looking for. She needed the courage to commit to Baekhyun, give her all to him and promise to love him with her whole heart. 

“I’m usually not the one to say cheesy shit like this — but follow your heart, y/n. You overthink sometimes.” Joohyun smiled warmly at y/n. “I’ve never heard you talk about someone like this before, y/n. It sounds like you care about him a lot.”

y/n thanked Joohyun for her advice and gave her a long hug before they parted ways. y/n stared emptily after Joohyun as her friend rushed to the nearby subway station.

y/n clutched her coat tighter around herself in the cold nighttime air. She was in a part of town that she rarely frequented, surrounded by shops and restaurants she’d never seen before. She walked around aimlessly until her feet came to rest before a small bakery sandwiched between a Chinese restaurant and a bookstore. 

It was late, but there were still cookies, cakes and different pastries displayed on the shelf. y/n could smell the addicting, sweet scent of baked goods when she stepped closer. The inside of the bakery seemed so warm and inviting; y/n desperately wanted to go inside.

An employee popped out of the back room and jogged over to the register. y/n felt a bitter pang in her chest when she realized he wasn’t Baekhyun. She had strangely expected him to be Baekhyun, despite the fact that this wasn’t his bakery, plus she was in a completely different part of the city. She realized that she had come to permanently associate the concept of bakeries with Baekhyun.

A group of customers walked in and the employee greeted them with a welcoming smile. y/n quickly walked away before his smile could remind her of Baekhyun, too.

y/n was sitting on her couch on a lazy evening, sipping a cup of earl grey tea as she watched dry leaves fall off the branches outside in a slow transition from fall to winter. After a long day at school, she was about to turn on the TV when her doorbell rang.

She considered who could be visiting her this late. Something in the back of her mind wished it was Baekhyun behind the door, all smiles and sunshine, but she remembered a package that she had ordered earlier in the week. She looked out her peephole expecting a delivery man and nearly gasped. Baekhyun was fidgeting nervously on her doormat. 

She opened her door to reveal a slightly disheveled Baekhyun, wearing a rumpled sweater and light-wash jeans. Despite everything that had happened, she couldn’t help but be glad to see him. “Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” he said, tense, “I-I wanted to talk to you. Is that okay? If you’re not ready, I can leave—”

“It’s okay, Baekhyun. Come in.” She opened the door wider so he could walk in.

Baekhyun awkwardly shuffled to her living room to stand in front of her TV. 

“What did you want to talk about?” she asked as she closed the door behind her. 

Baekhyun chewed on his bottom lip nervously. “I just wanted to say, I’m sorry. I should’ve been more honest with you, and I definitely should’ve figured everything out before I started anything with you.” he said, scratching the back of his neck. 

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Baekhyun.”

“I thought I had gotten over the whole Mina thing a long time ago, but obviously I was wrong. I know this now; Mina didn’t want me. She wanted the nostalgia, the life that she thinks she could’ve had with me if we hadn’t broken up. But I don’t even want to think about that, because I wouldn’t have met you.”

“I wasn’t upset about you getting over Mina.” y/n clarified. “Now that I think of it, you made it quite clear that you didn’t have feelings for her anymore. I’ve thought about us a lot in the past week, and I want to apologize. I was scared of commitment—”

“I scared you off, didn’t I,” Baekhyun murmured. “I can’t promise you that I’m completely healed from what happened all those years ago. I understand if you don’t want to be with me because of that — but I would regret it forever if I didn’t at least tell you how I feel. I want to be with you. You’ve been on my mind all week, and it drove me crazy that I wasn’t seeing you everyday at the bakery. I missed you.”

Baekhyun’s eyes desperately searched for hers. The bright, sincere look in his eyes was asking her to say something, anything at all. 

“I want to be with you, too.” y/n said, her voice clear and sure.

Baekhyun let out a huge sigh of relief. She couldn’t help but smile at his quick change in expression.

“I missed you too, Baekhyun,” y/n confessed. “I’m so sorry I left you all alone in the car. I really should’ve been there for you. I-I was being selfish. I can’t imagine not having you in my life anymore, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun nodded. “It’s okay. I understand how you could have felt that way. I can handle my own emotions, too. I don’t want to burden you.”

“No, no, you’re never a burden to me, Baekhyun,” y/n shook her head. “I’m going to be here for you from now on.”

Baekhyun’s face flushed and broke into a radiant smile. y/n’s heart soared.

He crossed the small space between them and cupped her face in his hands, leaning down to press his lips against hers. She let out a soft noise in surprise, and melted into the kiss. It had been far too long since he had kissed her like this. She gently placed her hands on his back, pulling him closer to her. She could feel him smile against her lips.

“You have no idea how much I’ve been waiting to hear that.” he mumbled, pulling back a little bit.

She shut him up by kissing him again.

Two months later

It was already the season to dress in thick woolen coats with pockets deep enough for Baekhyun to hide dessert to surprise y/n with. He occasionally pulled out carefully packaged brownies or sugar cookies and watched y/n’s delighted reaction in satisfaction. His gifts didn’t stop with the baked goods; Baekhyun once showed up in a blue knitted scarf and gifted an identical pair for y/n to match with him. 

y/n gripped Baekhyun’s hand tightly and half-dragged him towards the snow-covered cabin. Snowflakes were falling around them softly, resting on the tops of their heads and shoulders before quickly melting away. 

y/n suppressed a laugh when Baekhyun let out another whine. “I told you I didn’t want to go!” he complained, flailing his other arm as y/n dragged him away. He pouted when she looked back at him — she almost gave in at his puppy-like eyes. 

“We came all this way, Baekhyun,” she said firmly, “now let’s go inside, I’m freezing.”

When Baekhyun received the official invitation to Mina’s wedding two months ago, he had been strongly against going. He crossed his arms, claiming that he never wanted to see her face again. Strangely enough, y/n found herself convincing Baekhyun to attend the wedding with her. 

“You’ll finally get the closure you’ve wanted if you go and congratulate her, Baekhyun.” y/n had said to Baekhyun, who was fuming at the notion of seeing Mina again.

“It’s fine if you really don’t want to go. But I won’t be able to show her that you’re mine.” y/n had said with a wink. This seemed to cheer Baekhyun up a little bit, a mischievous glint returning to his eyes.

y/n and Baekhyun entered the cabin, handing their coats to the coat checker. y/n was wearing a light pink silk dress that stopped a few inches below her knees, her hair falling down her back in soft waves. She had made sure to look presentable and had spent hours deciding on her dress. Baekhyun looked at her appreciatively, blushing when she met his eyes.

The cabin was completely decked out in Christmas decorations, every wall space covered in wreaths and fairy lights. Even the air smelled like Christmas — the aroma of gingerbread cookies and pine cones filling the entire venue. Huge A-framed windows looked out at the snowy mountains around them.

y/n clapped excitedly. “I love Christmas weddings!” She shot Baekhyun a warning glance before he could let out another grumble.

The ceremony was breathtaking, y/n admitted. The wedding hall was decorated in a flourish of pink toned flowers. The window behind the altar gave a clear view into the open sky as the sun set beautifully behind the mountains. Mina wore an elegant white gown decorated with lace flowers and crystals that made the dress twinkle as she walked down the aisle to her soon-to-be husband. The groom, Junmyeon, looked just as elegant in his tuxedo. He stood at the altar in a perfect posture, beaming at his bride. 

y/n glanced over at Baekhyun when Mina and Junmyeon began exchanging vows. She had felt a twinge of worry that Baekhyun might not actually enjoy the wedding. However, he was smiling lightly, eyes content at the sight of the newlywed couple. He looked genuinely happy for them.

The banquet hall on the other end of the cabin slowly filled up with people for the reception. Thousands of fairy lights hung across the walls, twinkling like stars that whimsically complemented the darkening sky outside. Baekhyun’s eyes lit up when he saw two twenty-something year old men walking towards them. y/n recognized them as the guys from the framed photo in Baekhyun’s apartment.

“Is that Byun Baekhyun I see?” a tall, gangly man with noticeably pointy ears yelled, approaching them with a big grin on his face.

“Chanyeol!” Baekhyun exclaimed animatedly. Chanyeol captured Baekhyun in a bear hug, squeezing him as tight as he could. Baekhyun tapped his friend’s back. “Chanyeol, my dude, I can’t breathe.”

Chanyeol released him with a deep, rumbling laugh. A shorter man with big round eyes and heart-shaped lips approached Baekhyun, giving Baekhyun a hug as well. He gave y/n a much calmer impression compared to Chanyeol, who was shaking with laughter.

“It’s so good to see you, Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun said as the shorter man let go. Kyungsoo’s eyes moved to y/n, who had been standing next to Baekhyun. He gave her a curious look.

“Guys, this is my girlfriend, y/n. y/n, these are my friends, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun introduced, a proud smile on his face. y/n felt warmth rise in her stomach at the phrase my girlfriend. It had already been over a month since they'd made their relationship official, but she still felt butterflies whenever he said those words.

“You’re y/n? The y/n? The girl Baekhyun has been talking nonstop about for the past two months?” Chanyeol teased. Baekhyun groaned and covered his face in his hands, his face flushed red.

“Chanyeol, please. Make a good first impression for y/n.” Baekhyun complained.

“Yes, I’m y/n. It’s so nice to meet you guys.” y/n said, smiling at Baekhyun’s embarrassment. His rosy cheeks were beyond cute when he was embarrassed.

“We’re both so glad that Baekhyun finally found someone. You guys make a cute couple, I must say.” Kyungsoo sincerely commented.

“Get ready, y/n, because I’m going to tell you so many embarrassing stories about Baekhyun. Has he told you about the time he got stuck—” Chanyeol started, but Baekhyun made a strangled noise and punched Chanyeol lightly on the arm. Chanyeol overreacted by grabbing himself and scrunching his face in feigned pain.

“Oh, stop it. I didn’t even punch you that hard.” Baekhyun rolled his eyes.

“He got stuck inside a porta potty once,” Kyungsoo quietly whispered to y/n while Chanyeol and Baekhyun quarreled over who had started ‘it’.

The four of them enjoyed their food at a banquet table together. Chanyeol was in the middle of telling a story about the time Baekhyun accidentally shaved off his eyebrows in middle school. Baekhyun had given up on trying to make Chanyeol shut up.

“I had no idea the blade was double sided!” Baekhyun objected, causing Chanyeol to snort and double over the table. y/n laughed as she imagined a younger Baekhyun without eyebrows.

Guests began to walk up to Mina and Junmyeon one by one to congratulate them one last time before heading out. Baekhyun eyed the happy couple who stood across the room hand in hand. Mina was standing with Junmyeon, a bright smile on her face. She chuckled when Junmyeon leaned down to whisper something to her.

“Do you want to go talk to her?” y/n asked quietly in Baekhyun’s ear.

“Only if you come with me,” he murmured.

y/n and Baekhyun excused themselves, saying their goodbyes to Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. y/n wrapped her arm around Baekhyun’s and made their way towards Mina and Junmyeon. 

Mina’s smile faded ever so slightly when she saw Baekhyun and y/n approaching them. She said something to Junmyeon, prompting him to walk away and give them some privacy.

“Congratulations, Mina.” Baekhyun greeted her with a genuine smile.

“Baekhyun, I didn’t think you would come,” Mina said, looking flustered. She glanced at y/n standing next to him. “I-isn’t she the girl that works for you at the bakery?”

“Yes, she’s also my girlfriend.” Baekhyun replied. y/n felt an arm wrap around her waist. Mina showed little to no reaction other than a slight widening of the eyes. y/n felt satisfaction settle inside her as she heard the phrase again. My girlfriend. 

“I do remember you saying that you were taken,” Mina said, an awkward smile lingering on her lips. She turned her eyes to y/n. “It’s nice to meet you, y/n. I assume you know who I am.”

y/n nodded once wordlessly.

Baekhyun cleared his throat once and said, “Despite everything that’s happened between us, I still want you to be happy. I hope you are, with Junmyeon.”

“I am,” she said quietly, “thank you, Baekhyun.”

“Goodbye, Mina.” Baekhyun gave her a curt nod before moving to walk away. 

“Wait, Baekhyun—” Mina blurted, stopping Baekhyun in his tracks. He turned to look at her.

“I-I’m sorry. For how I treated you all those years ago. You didn’t deserve that, and I know it’s too late to apologize now — but I still want you to know.” Mina looked down at the hem of her dress before continuing her apology. “You’re a great guy. I hope you find happiness, too.” 

“Don’t worry,” Baekhyun said, “I found happiness with her.” His arm tightened around y/n’s waist, pulling her closer to his side.

y/n watched Baekhyun smile at Mina, his face the most peaceful y/n had ever seen. He slid his hand into y/n’s and pulled them away. All Mina could do was stare after the couple as they walked out of the venue until they were out of sight.

y/n comfortably settled into the white sheets of the bed, relaxing after a long day of hauling herself around on a pair of high heels. She soon felt the pressure of Baekhyun sinking down beside her. It was too late for them to make the three-hour drive back to their city after the reception, so Baekhyun had booked a hotel room for the two of them. She rolled over on her side to look at Baekhyun, who was laying on his back, his face at ease. y/n blushed slightly at the sight of his bare chest; he was only dressed in a pair of sweatpants.

Shifting through the crack of the curtains, moonlight illuminated Baekhyun’s skin into a healthy glow. 

“Thank you.” Baekhyun softly whispered. He met his eyes with y/n.

“For what?” y/n asked. 

“For everything. I don’t think I’ve been this happy in a long time.�� Baekhyun moved closer to kiss her briefly on the lips. “And I’m so glad you’re the one to make me feel this way.”

y/n gave him a small smile and raised a hand to stroke his hair. Without saying a word, she lovingly kissed him again in response, silently letting him know that she felt the same way. Everything he did, from his endearing smiles to little pouts whenever he messed up the icing, and every way he looked, from a neatly dressed pastry chef to a mess of soft brown hair and dark puppy eyes — all of Baekhyun made y/n fall harder for him.

She deepened the kiss, pressing her lips harder against Baekhyun’s mouth. She felt warmth gather in the pit of her stomach. Baekhyun swiped his tongue against her lips, allowing him to push his tongue inside to meet hers. Baekhyun placed his hand on the back of her neck, pulling their bodies as close as possible. She could feel the heat of his body firm against hers. 

Their breaths became heavier as they continued kissing. She let out a moan when she felt Baekhyun instinctively grind his hips against hers. His hands gripped her waist and moved her so that she was straddling his hips. She bent down to capture his lips again in a messy kiss, their tongues moving against each other sloppily. She rolled her hips against him as they kissed, searching for friction that sent chills down her back. 

She felt his hand slide up the hem of her pajama shirt, gently brushing the soft skin of her stomach. A shiver ran down her entire body. She reached down to pull her shirt over her head. Baekhyun pulled back slightly to stare at her, his breaths shallow and his pupils dilated. His hands wandered down her sides. The way Baekhyun touched her, like she was the most precious thing in the world, made her a million times more sensitive. Every time his hands traveled to a new place, she had to cut back a gasp. 

Baekhyun kissed the side of her jaw, and down the column of her neck. He harshly sucked on a tender point at the base of her throat, his mouth leaving angry, red marks all over her neck. Baekhyun’s hands started kneading her breasts, and she let out another moan. Pleased with her reaction, he ducked his head to take her breast into his mouth. She lightly moaned as she felt his tongue flick against her nipple.

“B-Baekhyun,” she called out shakily.

“Mmm?” he replied, his voice muffled against her skin.

“I need you.”

Baekhyun’s mouth released her breast with a pop, and the sudden onset of cold air made her shudder. He looked to meet her lustful eyes. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she breathed out.

Baekhyun kissed her lips again, exhaling a soft moan as he did. His hand slowly trailed down from her chest to rest between her thighs, brushing against her stomach on the way. She felt goosebumps rise on her skin as he gently shoved his hand inside her pajama shorts to rub her against her underwear. y/n let out a sudden moan, surprised at the pressure in which Baekhyun began rubbing her. His index and middle fingers began moving in a languid back and forth motion. y/n rested her forehead against Baekhyun’s shoulder as she whimpered, already getting lightheaded. Baekhyun let out a soft sigh in response and pushed her underwear down. Baekhyun slid a finger across y/n’s wetness before he started rubbing her clit in circular motions. He eased his two fingers inside her and started to slowly pump them back and forth.

At the direct contact of Baekhyun’s fingers inside her heat, y/n lost control of her moans. She felt embarrassed at the sounds that came out from her lips and rang across the small hotel room. She closed her eyes and bit her lip.

“Look at me, love.” Baekhyun demanded. y/n forced her eyes open and saw Baekhyun, who had a dark look in his eyes, craving for more.

Baekhyun’s hand moved faster in and out of y/n. “Does that feel good?” he asked, voice hoarse. 

“Oh my god, yes,” she managed to say between her moans.

Baekhyun gently flipped them over so that he was leaning above her, his arms resting on either side of her face. As he leaned down to kiss her, he slid off his sweatpants leaving only his underwear on. y/n broke from the kiss, staring at the hardness in his underwear, painfully straining against the fabric. She slowly let her hand wander down from his shoulder and splayed it against his stomach. She played with the hem of his underwear before pulling it down and wrapping her hand around his hardened cock. y/n moved her hand in a steady up and down motion, adding more pressure at the tip. She watched Baekhyun come undone by her touch.

“Go a little faster, sweetheart.” Baekhyun said in a hurried whisper. 

y/n responded by moving her hand faster in a circular motion. Baekhyun let out a quiet noise in the back of his throat, further igniting the flame that was burning inside her stomach.

“I need you inside me,” she said, her voice unsteady.

Baekhyun reached for his wallet on the side table next to the bed and fished out a condom with one hand. He ripped the plastic open and rolled the condom onto his length. He took no time to gently move her hand away from his cock and line himself up at her entrance, pausing for a moment before looking into her desperate eyes. He sank down into her, letting out a soft moan. Her head leaned back into the pillow in pleasure, making space for Baekhyun to tilt his head down and suck on her neck. She let out high-pitched moans as he started to move faster, his hand reaching out to hold onto the headboard of the bed.

“Fuck, Baekhyun.” y/n cried out. Baekhyun thrusted harder into her at the sound of his name rolling off her tongue. He pounded in and out of her, gaining a moan from y/n with each thrust. She brought her hands to his shoulders and raked her fingernails down his broad back.

Baekhyun’s decreasing steadiness and grunts indicated that he was close. y/n felt like she was going to explode, but it wasn’t enough. She took Baekhyun’s hand to her clit and looked into his eyes, begging him for more. Baekhyun got the message and started rubbing intensely, causing y/n to melt into a puddle under his hand. Even as Baekhyun moved roughly, there was an undeniable sense of affection from him, his eyes gazing at her lovingly. 

“Baby, you feel so good,” he murmured.

A few moments later, there was a sudden burst of pent up energy, her back arching off the bed and legs shaking as she came. Her vision blurred as she clenched her eyes and loud moans spilled out of her lips. She called out for Baekhyun, barely making out her own words through her release. He slammed her into a few more times before reaching his own climax.

They collapsed down onto the bed together, chests rising and falling from their harsh breaths. She turned to the side to look at Baekhyun. His skin glistened with sweat, and he looked back at her, dazed. 

The world seemed to stop when Baekhyun said the next words. “I love you,” Baekhyun whispered softly, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind y/n’s ear. The soft brown in his eyes glimmered for a moment before he leaned in to close his lips around hers.

When they broke apart, y/n whispered back, “I love you too, Baekhyun.” making his face break out into a sweet smile that reminded her of nothing but sunshine, and strangely, strawberries, too.

The cold December air hurt y/n’s lungs as she skipped down the snowy sidewalk that led to the bakery. She ducked her head through the door, inhaling a mixed aroma of cookies, cakes, and macaroons. A smile sprung on her face as she made eye contact with Sehun, who was working the register.

“What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to work today.” Sehun asked, surprised to see her.

“I just wanted to visit my favorite bakery employee,” she said innocently, walking over to ruffle Sehun’s hair. Sehun rolled his eyes.

“You’re here to visit your goddamn boyfriend, and you know it.” Sehun deadpanned.

y/n laughed brightly. “I’m here to see you too, Sehun!” She scanned the bakery — it was unusually empty today with most college students having left for winter break. “Where’s Baekhyun?”

Sehun rolled his eyes again. “He’s in the kitchen.”

y/n walked into the kitchen and was met with Baekhyun bent over a tray of cookies. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration, his teeth gently digging into his bottom lip as he carefully squeezed icing onto a cookie. He looked up and beamed when he saw y/n walk in.

“Hi, love,” he said, placing the icing bag down on the counter, “what are you doing here?”

“Hi,” she replied, walking over to give him a hug, “I got bored sitting around the apartment so I decided to come visit.”

Baekhyun leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. “Good. I was getting bored with icing these cookies, too.”

y/n looked down at what he had been working on and gasped. “You know sugar cookies are my favorite.” she said, a blissful smile on her face.

Baekhyun picked up the cookie he’d been icing and tipped it into y/n’s mouth. She chewed, delighting in the sweet flavor of her favorite dessert.

“It’s delicious,” she complimented, “you should try some.”

He leaned in to kiss her again, this time more eagerly. His lips curved against the slope of her mouth, his tongue moving past her lips. She suppressed a moan into a soft sigh and gripped his shoulder as he pressed harder against her mouth.

“Mm, but I’d rather have you for dessert.” Baekhyun broke off from her lips and shamelessly murmured into y/n’s ear, making her face heat up instantly.

They reluctantly pulled back when they heard Sehun’s grumpy yell from outside.

“You guys better not be having sex in there!”

[marshieee]

Home

Timeskip Bokuto x Fem! Reader Part 1

Warning⚠️: angst, break up.

“Bake”

“If you can’t sleep then bake, you can give them to me and I’ll taste them”

Bokuto smiled as he continued to mix his ingredients together, it’s 4:30 am and he can’t sleep so he decided to bake something instead.

“Put a baking paper on the pan....then pour the mixture in...”

He gently poured his batter in his prepared pan he also made sure that the oven was preheated before putting it in.

“280...and then wait for 30 minutes”

He wasn’t really fond of baking not until you showed him how easy and fun baking is, and now he totally loves baking it the second thing that he loves to do.

He cleaned the mess he made while waiting, made sure that the dishes are washed, putting the ingredients back to their respective cabinets and jars. The sweet aroma filled the kitchen early in the morning.

As the timer went off he happily removed the pastry out of the oven, setting it down to cool it off. He had a big smile on his face as he can’t wait for it to finish.

Slowly cutting it into equal pieces he had the biggest smile as he looked at his finished product proudly.

“Oh! Tupperware! Tupperware!”

Putting the brownies that he made in a container he made sure he save some for akaashi. 5:35 am, he grabbed his keys, his sweatshirt and headed outside...

Driving all the way to you.

Arriving at your apartment at exactly 6:00 am he excitedly knocked on your door, it took awhile before someone answered it. There he saw you rubbing your eyes to adjust so you can see who’s in front of you.

“Yes?”

“Y/N”

That woke you up, looking at him with a surprise eyes he stood in front of you with that signature smile of his.

“B-bokuto?”

Bokuto frowned upon hearing you call him in his surname but nevertheless what’s important is his sweet delivery for you.

“What are you doing here so early? It’s 6 in the morning”

“Yeah but i wanted to give you this!”

He stretched out his arms for you to grab the container with a freshly baked brownies inside, which you didn’t accepted it instead you just frowned as you look at him.

“Bokuto—“

“Can you please just accept it y/n?”

You were hesitant to take it at first but eventually grabbed the container, looking at the brownies you can’t meet his eyes.

“You can’t sleep?”

“Yeah”

“You know you don’t have to do this bokuto”

You looked up just to see to those sad eyes causing you to instantly look away. The way you reacted made him want to laugh at himself.

“I know...but i just wanted to see you”

“Bokuto we broke up”

Forcing a smile he just nodded at you.

“I know”

It’s been what? Months maybe? Half a year? Since the two of you broke up yet here he is, still inlove with you, still craving for you, still wants you.

Unlike you who had already moved on, who already got somebody and it hurts him to know that someone replaced the once was his part in your heart.

“Thank you for the brownies bokuto, but please don’t do this again.”

“You’re welcome and i will, I’m sorry”

As he walked away he can hear his heart breaking again, he doesn’t know why he keeps on hurting himself. You’re already happy isn’t that enough for him to be happy too?.

As he arrived home he was greeted by akaashi who’s having some tea and eating the brownies bokuto left.

“Oh welcome home bokuto-san”

“This isn’t home akaashi”

“Pardon? Where were you by the way?”

“Nowhere”

“Did you went and see y/n again?”

“No”

Akaashi sighed as he looked at the dejected adult in front of him, he can tell that he’s hurt AGAIN, you are his number one weakness.

“Bokuto-san—“

“Akaashi do you think i can feel at home again?”

[carelessannie]

maybe it goes like this: tony courts peter (part 5)

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven | Chapter Eight | Chapter Nine | Chapter Ten | Epilogue

Read on A03

Read the Stuckony backstory

Starker focus (Tony x Peter), minor WinterHawk, Winteriron, IronHawk, WinterSpider... basically everyone except Steve

After a few weeks of dating, Peter wants Tony to officially meet his pack.

Major warnings: D/S Au, A/B/O Au, WinterHawk sluttiness, fluffy traditional-style mating rituals (non-explicit)

---

Maybe it goes like this:

In Peter’s life, he can’t remember a time where he had to entertain for a guest. He knows he should have learned in high school, when most Omegas would have gone through weeks of household training after their first heat. But his circumstance was unique. His only packmate was Aunt May, and as a single, dominant Beta she had no experience with newly presented Omegas. Or subs for that matter.

Oh, and he didn’t present until a month before leaving for college.

So when he invites Tony to meet his pack, he relies pretty exclusively on Annie to get the house ready. She was trained by her pack Omega and knows exactly what to do to prepare for a first meeting.

Peter is in awe—

— and a little overwhelmed.

Annie is currently fluttering around the kitchen, tossing ingredients around to bake traditional mating pastries and cakes, and directing Peter and Clint around to finish last minute tasks.

“Did you light the candles in the living room, Clint?”

“Yes, Omega,” he responds, cheeky with the use of the formal title, and Peter would laugh if he wasn’t so stressed out.

“Peter, did you scent and nest the couches?”

He flushes a bit at the memory, “Yes, Omega.”

She must hear something in his tone, because she’s suddenly in front of him, hand on his chin, and checking his eyes. He realizes he’s trembling, and it takes all of his effort to maintain their eye contact.

“Clint,” she speaks, low, “can you take him to settle in the living room? I’ll finish up here, make sure you’re both calm and ready, okay?”

It’s barely a question, and Clint moves, immediately steering him away from the kitchen and into their temporary nest in the living room.

The whole room has been covered in their softest and most intimate bedding— pillows, blankets and plush rugs are laid over the floors and furniture to create the illusion of a full room nest. Peter has already spent almost an hour intimately scenting, rolling and rubbing on each item, filling the room with a heady pack scent that is working now to calm him. Annie has chosen candles to reflect their individual scents, so the room is now swirling with Caramel and Cream and Chai.

Clint swoops in and lifts Peter off his feet before settling in one of the nesting areas. Peter giggles, squirming in protest, as Clint moves the blankets around to get comfortable. He shifts to tangle their legs together, and Peter is dwarfed in the larger Beta’s hold.

Their eyes meet, and Clint gives him a devastating smile, causing Peter to laugh again. He snuggles closer, humming as strong arms squeeze tight around his waist.

“Clint?”

“Yeah, Petey?

Peter pauses, unsure how to ask,

“Are you— is it,” he takes a deep breath, sorting through his thoughts, “is there a chance you would ever be okay meeting Steve?”

He knows Clint had trauma with a pack Alpha before, and this has been an open conversation between the three of them since Peter has been seeing Tony, but Clint still seems reluctant to choose either meeting the Alpha or staying out of the mating process.

The silence stretches on, and he finally has to pull back and check on Clint.

He’s confronted with a carefully neutral face as Clint answers, “I don’t want to upset you, Peter.”

Oh, okay. Not a good start.

“You know I love you, right C?”

Clint’s face finally softens, and he looks back into Peter’s pleading eyes,

“Aw, sweet Omega, of course I do. And Tony seems like a great guy. Bucky too— you know I think Bucky’s great. I just… I need more time, Pete.”

This is how their conversation usually goes, and Peter signs, resigned, “Maybe if you just met him—“

“You haven’t even met him, ‘mega,” Clint interrupts, “how can you vouch for his character if you haven’t even met—“

“— because I trust Tony!” Peter raises his voice, “I know Tony and I are meant for each other, Clint. So I have to believe that I’m gonna be compatible with his pack Alpha, because even if— even if it’s just Tony for me, I’m destined to end up the center of Steve’s pack. So yeah, yeah I’m being pushy, Beta, because I’m selfish,” he grabs Clint’s hands and looks into his watery eyes, “I’m selfish and I want to mate you, too.”

“— Petey,”

“No, Clint, enough,” he shushes the larger Beta, turning in his arms and wrapping Clint around his back, “just hold me. We’ll talk about it later. Annie will kill us if I get worked up again.”

He feels Clint nuzzle into the back of his neck, scenting and kissing him tenderly. They lay in silence, slowly relaxing into each other, and listen to Annie moving around in the kitchen.

Clint reaches up, pushing his hair off his forehead, before he whispers, “For what it’s worth… I want to mate you, too, Peter.”

The sentiment almost makes Peter tear up, and he lifts Clint’s hand to his lips, pressing a sweet kiss to his knuckles before resting their intertwined fingers over his heart. He lets his eyes drift closed, and is only half aware of his own purring before sleep overtakes him.

---

A few hours later, the three of them are drinking scent-boosting tea on the couch when Tony and Bucky show up, rapping a few brief knocks on their door. Clint just started warming up the grill for dinner, and Annie gives Peter an encouraging nod to answer the door.

He measures his steps, making sure not to run, and still manages to yank open the front door, startling both men on the other side.

Tony is already smiling, and god Peter forgot how enamored he is. He foregoes tradition for a moment and throws himself into waiting arms, breathing in Tony’s spicy, smokey scent.

Bucky huffs out a laugh, but Peter only has eyes for his Beta. He looks up into whiskey brown eyes, lost in his future mate for a moment or two longer, until someone from inside the apartment clears their throat. Peter flushes in embarrassment for being so distracted, and finally tears his eyes away from Tony, extending his hand to lead Bucky inside as well.

Tony keeps his arm wrapped posessively around Peter’s waist as they move down the hallway, and whispers, “You look stunning tonight, Peter.”

“Thank you, it’s just— Annie said. I mean… Yeah, thanks.” Peter stammers out, ducking his head down as Tony laughs.

“No, I get it, sweetheart. I’m really enjoying the robe,” he winks, and Peter takes another moment to objectively view the living room as they emerge from the hallway. It’s painfully intimate— both the atmosphere and their attire— with all three of them wearing traditional courting robes and flowers. Tony gives him an encouraging smile, so he forces himself to relax.

Time to introduce everyone.

He steps towards his pack, still facing Tony and Bucky, and speaks up, “Thank you for coming, it’s our honor to host you both tonight,” both men smile before Peter continues, “it’s custom to thoroughly scent for compatibility before the night continues, so if… if Omegas and Betas could be seated in opposite nests, that would, um—” he pauses, uncertain, and the rest comes out as a question, “—that would be best?”

“Of course, Pete,” Clint stands, making his way to the other side of the living room, and sits in a different nest. He makes a show of patting the spot next to him, “C’mon Tony, I won’t bite.”

Tony gives both Peter and Bucky an incredulous look, obviously not believing Clint for a second, before flashing a smile and walking over to the offered spot.

Confident and sexy, he can’t help but watch for a moment.

Peter shakes his head and focuses back on Bucky, who seems a bit lost— which is pretty understandable. He gives the other Omega a shy smile before lacing their fingers together, pulling him closer to the vacant spot in Annie’s nest. As Bucky settles in, Annie immediately shifts closer and places a strand of mating flowers around his head.

“Oh, what— I don’t—” he starts to object.

Annie raises her hands, cutting him off, “Everyone is wearing them tonight, got it?”

Bucky reaches up to inspect the delicate blossoms, and Peter is distracted again by the Betas in the other nest— Clint and Tony are both laughing and have identical flowers on their heads. Peter catches Bucky watching as well and they share knowing smiles. The other Omega rolls his eyes and finally relaxes into the nest.

He takes this as a cue to introduce them,

“Bucky, this is Annie. And Annie, Bucky.” and Peter gives a small nod of encouragement to Annie as he stands up to leave them, heading back to neutral space in between the two nests.

After all, it’s his job to keep this night from chaos.

There’s a low murmur as both pairs talk, but Peter raises his voice slightly to gather attention,

“Alright. Perfect. So... it’s traditional for pack Omega to scent all members first. And— and I’m technically that, so,” he shrugs, feeling a bit awkward having to explain the process, “hopefully this isn’t a surprise to anyone.”

With a few hums of agreement and a low whistle from Clint, Peter makes his way over to the Beta nest.

It’s very quiet as Peter walks, even and determined, across the living room. His mate’s eyes darken as he approaches, and he’s acutely aware that every eye is on them. Clint scoots a bit to the side to provide more space as Peter stops in front of their nest, extending his hand for Tony to hold.

“May I scent you, my Beta?” he asks.

Tony’s gaze is sharp as he answers, “Always, my Omega.”

Peter tries not to blush again as he carefully parts his robe down the center, pushing his legs through the opening, and placing a knee outside of Tony’s right thigh, and then left, before settling down onto his mate’s lap. The robe flows behind him to cascade off the front of the nest, and Peter watches as Tony drinks in the sight of his smooth legs and silky pink shorts peeking out from underneath.

As Tony is distracted, Peter seizes the moment to push his hands into Tony’s hair, tangling his fingers in carefully styled waves, and slowly tilts his own head back, exposing his throat.

“So sweet, baby,” Tony croons, sitting up taller to sweep his nose up the side of Peter’s neck, using a hand on the back of his head to guide the Omega in for his own scent.

It’s familiar, it’s so safe, and if the night didn’t have to continue, Peter would have been content to stay in Tony’s arms forever.

Instead, he pulls away, allowing one more deep inhale before shifting to settle on Clint’s lap, repeating the process.

He can tell Clint appreciates their combined scent, and the moment drags on a little longer until Tony growls, low, and settles a hand on Peter’s back. He practically stumbles across the room to Annie and Bucky— dropping in between the two of them as both Omegas latch onto his neck, grabbing him around the waist, greedy for the sweet mix of warm and sweet and spice  as they add their own scents into the compatible mixture.

When he’s satisfied by the balance he can feel between the packmates, Peter withdraws from the Omegas, and encourages both Beta and Omega pairs to scent each other and mark the nest they’re a part of. He regrets not being included in this process, but it’s important for him to make sure there's mutual enjoyment and HappyContentPack saturating the air.

His attention is split between the two Betas— both of whom share a similar sense of humor and flirty carelessness in their interactions— and the Omegas— who are now almost horizontal in their nest, eyes closed, and purring. Both couples are lost in the moment, and it makes Peter hum in satisfaction, knowing that his own HappyContentOmega scent is joining theirs.

He clears his throat, waiting for all four sets of eyes to focus back on him, before continuing with the last tradition.

“It’s important that packmates feel safe with each other, so… for the final part, my packmates— Clint and Annie— will stay put, and the visiting pack— Tony and Bucky— will exchange places. This is a symbol of both intimacy and trust from our pack to yours,” he turns to look at Tony, “and from me to you.”

After his speech ends, Peter gives a nod of permission to Tony, and then to Bucky. Both men climb out of the surrounding blankets, and make their way across the room, only stopping briefly to exchange a kiss on the cheek.

Peter resolutely ignores the leering looks from Annie and Clint, as they’re all reminded of Tony and Bucky’s last kiss.

Horny packmates.

Underneath the flirty exterior, Peter knows Clint is nervous about seeing Bucky again— especially with how badly the last meeting turned out. Bucky looks equally hesitant, and slows down considerably when he approaches the nest.

Peter hears a quiet, “—this seat taken?” from Bucky, a laugh from Clint, before the Beta suddenly reaches up, grabs the smaller Omega around the waist, and yanks him down to sit on his lap.

Bucky yelps, flailing a bit, and Clint just laughs harder. Peter can’t help smiling as the two men push each other around, and end up closer and closer together, before leaning in to exchange scents. He shakes his head, dumb boys, and turns his attention over to Tony, who is—

Crying.

What?

Annie is seated across Tony’s lap, gently mopping up his tears with a tissue, as the Beta cries in her arms.

He immediately rushes over, “Tony? What… What happened—”

Tony looks up with a sad smile, and extends an arm for Peter to join them in the embrace. He climbs into the nest, moving only a few blankets around to keep his mate comfortable, and snuggles in closer to Tony’s side. Annie has a disbelieving look on her face, but just shakes her head when Peter makes a questioning noise, and Tony explains—

“My— my mother scents StrawberryOmega, too.”

Surprised, Peter turns to meet Tony’s gaze, which is incredibly soft and nostalgic. He doesn’t want to ruin the moment for his mate, but he has to ask,

“Is that… is that weird for you?”

“No,” Tony replies, immediately, “her scent is Strawberries and Maple Syrup, which is similar, but not too close.” He turns back to Annie and gives her a teary smile, even as he says to Peter, “I just didn’t expect your pack to feel like home.”

Annie probably rolls her eyes, but Peter doesn’t care. He throws himself into his Beta’s lap, distantly aware of the soft, desperate whining noise he’s making, focusing instead on being wrapped up tight in his mate’s arms.

“Oh baby. Shh, sweet Omega— you're doing  perfect,”

He clings tighter, burrowing deep into the warmth of his Beta and his nest. Gentle fingers stroke through his hair, down his back, until he finally turns over. He doesn’t let himself float for too long, aware of his responsibility to both packs, and wiggles out of Tony’s arms, enjoying the way it makes him and Annie laugh.

“Thank you, Tony,” Peter says, sitting up and meeting Tony’s eyes, “I want to be your home.”

Tony takes both of his hands, “Anything for you, baby.”

Peter feels his eyes flutter closed at the endearment, threatening to pull him back under for a moment, but then—

“Ow! What the—”

Annie shushes him as he rubs the spot where she pinched his arm, and points across the room, hiding a laugh under her hand.

Peter turns to look, and groans at the scene in front of him.

Bucky is on top of Clint, holding his wrists above his head with one hand, as the other disappears between their bodies. The two men are kissing, trading urgent presses of lips and tongue, and breathing quiet moans while their hips move together in a slow, hot rhythm.

Tony, the absolute traitor, is laughing hard and falls back into the nest, gripping his tummy and rolling in amusement. Annie joins in, and Peter huffs out his irritation.

“Boys.”

Nothing, just more laughter and a moan.

“Boys!” Peter yells a bit louder, earning him a, “Mm yes, right there, Omega,”

Incredulous, Peter stands up, “Clinton Barton and James Barnes, you separate this instant!”

With a gasp, the two men fly away from each other, and Clint immediately reaches to cover where he’s obviously hard in his jeans. Tony and Annie still haven’t stopped laughing, and the hilarity of the situation suddenly hits Peter, and he tries not to smile. Bucky looks absolutely smug, and points a finger at Clint,

“Peter, your Beta is a slut—”

— and they all lose it.

---

Later— after the laughing dies down, after Clint and Tony argue about the best way to grill hamburgers, and after their stomachs are full— both packs find themselves piled into a large nest in the center of the living room.

All five of them are enjoying the stillness, the warmth, and the combined, compatible Pack scent.

Peter knows there’s something missing, and he pulls Tony closer,

“Tony,"

“Yeah, baby,"

“... do you feel like— like something’s missing?"

Tony kisses his forehead and hums in agreement, “Not something, Omega. Someone."

Oh. And that makes sense.

“I’ll meet him."

Peter startles at the sudden interruption from Clint, and turns to find his packmate staring at them, expression determined and resolved.

“Clint, are you— are you sure? We can still wait—"

Clint shakes his head firmly, “No, Pete. You’re right: we are missing someone. And as much as I might hate to admit it, I need to meet this Alpha."

The pack grows silent, shifting uncomfortably, unsure how to respond.

“You could come meet ‘im first, just the two of you, to talk and shit,” Bucky suggests, reaching out to squeeze Clint’s arm.

There are a few nods and sounds of agreement, so Peter lets himself settle back into Tony’s embrace as the conversation naturally shifts away from the impending meeting.

As he lets himself float, he hears one, whispered word from Tony,

“Soon."

[hobeemin]

A Baker’s Dozen

🍓 Genre: Fluff and a bit of Romance

🍓 Pairing: Kim Seokjin x Reader

🍓 Rating: pg13

🍓 Warning(s): Light cursing, Reader is a horrible cook, crying, a mini nervous breakdown, e2l (?)

🍓 Word Count: 3.4k

🍓 Credits: To my lovely beta @yoongs-jeontae ily 💜💗 and the beautiful @namluve​ for creating this lovely banner and divider ilyt!!

🍓 A/N: to @randomkoalablog my gift to you. Happy birthday!!! I wish you happiness! I hope you enjoy your day!!🎈🎉🎊🎂🍰🧁

Jin didn’t even have to turn around once he heard the crash. Temple protruding, he pressed his chalk onto the board, writing out the instructions for the next in-class assignment. Hearing the murmurs behind him and chairs scraped across the vinyl floor, he clenched his teeth and carried on.

Crust

Graham crackers (crushed) - About 2 cups

Sugar… ⅓  cup

Butter (melted)… ⅓ cup

Filling

Unsweetened chocolate...4 ounces

Sugar… 1 ½ cup

Eggs (chilled)… 4

Salted butter (cold and softened)... 2 sticks

Vanilla extract… 1 teaspoon

Topping

Heavy cream…. 1 ½ cup

Powdered sugar… ¼ cup

Semi-sweet chocolate bar (for grating)

A yelp from behind him paused his actions as he finally twirled around. Brows knit, he didn’t even need to guess what happened. You were covered head to toe in cake flour.

“Y/N?” Jin sighed in defeat.

You squealed, trying to cower behind another student. “I-I...Sorry, Seokjin-nim. I–”

“Don’t even bother,” he interrupted, rubbing his temples. “Go clean up and come back to class.”

Your shoulder slumped, and without a word, you ran out of the classroom. He gave a dubious look to the remainder of the class. “C’mon, clean that up, and we’ll start when Y/N returns.”

Jin considered himself a decent instructor, heck he was one of the best culinary chef’s out there. But unfortunately, in the economy's state, he had to close his restaurant and settle on teaching basic cooking classes. That was all well and good, but the only job available had been at a small, unknown culinary school. So desperate for students, they’d admit anyone. And therein lies the problem: You. 

You weren’t the best cook...okay, that was being polite. You were a horrendous cook, and it was a miracle your place hadn’t burned down from all the cooking accidents you managed to do. Still, you had a passion for cooking, and your dream of becoming one of the best pastry chefs in Seoul would someday come true. 

Jin didn’t hold his breath. On the first day of class, you managed to break an oven, the mixing bowl, and burn the inside of a saute pan. A saute pan?! There wasn’t anything in it!

But Jin gave you the benefit of the doubt. It was your first day, and nerves were high.

Except it happened every single day after that: broken bowls and equipment, tripping over the shock mats, and burning yourself on the stove. It never failed. Jin would have just sucked it up to you being a klutz, but on top of it all, your cooking sucked. There wasn't a day that went by where he’d think about the creme brulee you destroyed. Again, how did you manage torching the surface, and it was raw?

You walked back into the classroom, freshly changed into a new chef’s jacket and pants, and stood at your station. You winced seeing Jin’s eyes bore into you, and you wanted nothing more for the floor to swallow you up. 

“Now that the break is over, we can focus on the lesson at hand,” he began, pointing to the board. “Today we’ll be making French silk pie. A complex dish due to the fact it’s not baked and the eggs will be raw. Now, to start, we’ll make the crust.”

The students got to work getting the necessary ingredients and making the pie crusts. Only whispers were heard throughout the kitchen. Jin walked around, giving small tips of advice as he checked the students' progress.

“Make sure the graham crackers are crumbly, not too chunky or fine; the texture should be there. Perfect.”

He smiled at each student as he went about only stopping at you with a frown. Somehow you were having trouble with the food processor. “Y/N? Something wrong?”

You looked up in surprise, cheeks a bright red. “No, Seokjin-nim, just fixing it,” you laughed nervously.

He queried with a brow stepping closer. “Maybe I can help.” He began assessing the processor looking for any jams. “It looks alright. Nothing seems out of place–”

He spoke too soon.

You decided pressing the button without the top secured was the best idea. With a roar, graham crackers and butter flew out coating you and Jin. The class gasped. Jin let out a depressing noise and wiped the gunk from his face.

“Y/N, stay after class.”

After cleaning up yet another mess, you leaned against the station wanting to bite your nails. Class had ended not too long ago, and it was now empty. Jin instructed you to wait while he went to his office. Your leg shook as you tried to distract your thoughts.

It wasn’t that bad, right?

You nearly jumped out of your skin as Jin entered the classroom, folder under his arm. He looked like he aged a few years in the course of a few hours. With a groan, he set the folder down beside you. You started from the folder to him curiously.

“Know what that is?" he inquired. 

You shook your head. Jin opened the folder revealing your picture with your name across the page. “It’s your progress report for the semester,” he explained, flipping through the pages. “They want me to fail you.”

Your heart sank as you looked at all the failed marks in each of your classes. Lip trembling, you stifled a whimper as he continued. 

“However, I was able to get you one last chance,” he paused, staring at the look of surprise on your face. “As you know, we have a mock service at the end of the week. If you don’t impress the staff, they will fail you, and I can’t do anything about it if it comes to that decision.”

Jin slammed the folder shut, giving you a hard stare, though it softened after a moment. “You’re assigned to desserts. Create something edible, and they’ll pass you for the semester.”

You tugged at your apron, twisting it in your hands. “B-But, what should I do?”

He shrugged, picking the folder up and walked towards the door. “Try not to suck,” he teased before exiting.

You sat there dumbfounded as the news sank in. This mock service could be the end of your culinary career. You had two choices, cry and mope about the situation or put on your big girl pants and kick this assignment's ass. You needed to impress the staff and damn it; you weren’t going to fail.

“Fuck, what am I gonna make?” You sat back down, pondering over the types of desserts you could make. Grabbing the books on the shelf, you flipped through, studying each one.

“Red velvet...no...Lemon meringue...yuck no...Chocolate chip cookies….what am I five?”

Grunting in frustration, you poured over the books filled with millions of recipes until the early hours of the morning. 

Jin found you the next day, drool pooling on one of the books. He walked over, smirking at your sleeping form, impressed to see you so determined to pass. He peeked at your notes curiously. 

“Oh, Y/N,” he whispered, noticing your chef’s hat had fallen over your eyes, exposing your hair, the few tresses tumbling out to rest on your neck. His ears pinked as he brushed the hair aside, causing you to shift and mumble in your sleep. 

Jin stepped back, afraid he’d wake you. He noticed a french cookbook open and grabbed a highlighter. With a grin, he circled one of the recipes and tiptoed back up to the front by the lights.

He cleared his throat, flipping on the switch. “Y/N? Wake up. Class is about to start.”

You yelped, jumping out your seat and looked around in bewilderment. “Oh my gosh! I-I stayed here all night!” You covered your face in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, Seokjin-nim. I didn’t mean to.”

Jin hid his smile and put on a neutral expression. “It’s fine. Just be mindful next time.” He walked over, looking at your workspace. “What are you working on?”

You tried to clean up the mess hastily with a snort. “Ah, just something for the mock service, nothing more.”

“Oh? What do you plan on making?” He inquired.

“I–” You glanced down at the scribbles, papers laid askew. You hadn’t figured out what you were going to make! Jin tapped his foot impatiently.

“Well–”

There. Right on the page circled in yellow. “Macarons!” you blurted out.

Jin feigned surprise. “Macarons? Interesting. That’s gonna be a challenge. If done right, they’ll be delicious.” 

You felt flustered by his smile, averting your gaze. “You think I can do it?”

Not a chance in hell. Jin's smile widened, giving you a small pat on the shoulder. “Put your mind to it and study hard. I’m positive you can do it.” He settled against the station tapping his chin. “The problem is you’re too hard on yourself. You need to gain some confidence. Cooking is, by the bare bones, a science; equal and opposite reactions, molecules fusing, you get the gist. However, passion makes it come alive.”

His eyes twinkled as he turned to stare at you. “You have it inside, just got to find a way to let it emerge.”

You bit down on your lip as you lifted your head to see him staring. Your gaze held until the distant sounds of culinary students grew louder. Jin laughed as he walked to the board. He started to write out the assignment pausing for just a moment. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out, Y/N. I’m rooting for you.”

Now it was your time to get embarrassed. You cleaned up your station, putting the books back on their respective shelves just as the classroom filled. 

Class went by in a blur; your mind was elsewhere. You blurted out the first thing that came to your mind. Now you had to figure out how to make these macarons look and taste spectacular. Your grade depended on it. 

After the last students filtered out, only you and Jin remained. He packed his bag, watching as you looked over the recipe, taking notes as you went along.

He smiled to himself, seeing how determined you were to pass. He walked over, slinging the strap over his shoulder.

“You know,” he began as you sat up from your book to give him your full attention, “a good tip is to separate the egg whites and let them get to room temperature in a ventilated bowl for a bit.” He winked with a shrug. “Just a thought. Good luck.”

You chewed your pen cap nodding. A smile formed as you felt your mood lighten. “Thank you, Seokjin-nim. That helps. Have a good night.”

“Good night, Y/N.” He waved, leaving you in class alone to think. 

You set to work laying out all the ingredients. With a sigh, you glanced at them, ready for war. Rolling up your sleeves, you put on your war face.

“Alright, let’s kick some ass!”

You sobbed on the floor, cheeks covered in flour and sugar. It shouldn’t have been that hard. But after the explosion of flour and you dropped the batter on the floor, all seemed lost. You felt like you’d been defeated until Jin’s face crossed our mind. His smile and reassurance. He was rooting on you to pass. He didn’t want to have you fail out of school. Growling in frustration, you got up, clenching your fists and slamming them on the tabletop. 

“Screw this. I’m gonna pass this class!”

The night of the mock service had arrived. The kitchen buzzed with excitement as the students prepared their dishes for the guests. Ingredients prepped, utensils laid out, it was now or never. You entered the kitchen, securing your apron around your waist and headed over to the pastry section. There was only one other person with you, assigned to the ice cream. 

Giving a quick hello, you took your premade batter and scooped it into a piping bag. As you worked on piping small circles onto the baking sheets, you barely noticed Jin walking in to wish everyone well. He stopped by your counter with a nod. 

“Hello, Y/N. Everything all set?”

You looked up briefly, still focused on your task. “Hi, Seokjin-nim. My filling is already made, just got to bake the cookies.”

Jin nodded in approval, the slight worry at the back of his mind calming as he saw your expression. You seemed so determined to prove everyone wrong. He cleared his throat with an abrupt appearance. “Ahem, yes. Well, good luck. I’ll be out there with other department heads. Just stay confident when you’re introducing your dish.”

He patted you on the arm and scurried out the kitchen. You had no time to consider what his words and actions meant, not when so much work had to be done. You placed the six baking sheets into the oven, still worrying about the amount you had to make. The plan was to make a few and to be set aside for the department heads and make the others as the rest of the guests ordered them. 

The night rolled on as other students cooked their dishes, going out into the dining room once they presented their meal. They’d get a score and walk back in to continue service. Dinner service crept by slowly making you anxious, bouncing on the soles of your shoes. As dirty dishes cleared and dessert utensils staged, you watched as the plates of macarons were served to the main table. With a gulp, you walked out, wringing your apron between your fingers. You could have sworn you heard your heart beating over the soft melodies coming from the speakers.

It felt like an episode of Iron Chef.

Jin looked around at the dishes. “Y/L/N Y/N, please explain to us what you’ve created for dessert tonight.”

You gave a bow, stretching a small smile across your face. “G-Good evening. Tonight, I wanted to tie the themes of this evening's meals together with this dessert. With how rich the dishes were tonight, I thought it would be better to end with something light,” you explained as the jitters slowly disappeared. “I’ve made for you a vanilla bean macaron with strawberry cheesecake filling. You can taste the vanilla beans in the cookies to give you more of a woody, smoky flavor that plays well with the strawberries. I pureed the fruit but added a few chunkier pieces to give it texture.” You took a breath as no traces of nerves crossed your face. “The drizzle was made with powdered sugar to add just a dash of sweetness. I hope you enjoy it.”

Jin held back his smile as he observed you. “Thank Y/N. We’ll make sure to enjoy this.”

You bowed once more and walked back into the kitchen. As the doors swung close behind you, you let out a massive sigh making everyone laugh. You grinned, heading back over to the desserts. The night had yet to end.

It seemed like a successful mock service. Jin came in the back to congratulate them all as everyone cleaned up the kitchen. As he entered, everyone stopped to see what he would say.

“Your grades will be up on Monday,” he said over the loud groan. He held up his hands. “Don’t shoot the messenger. Again, we were very impressed with everyone. Great job tonight.” He watched over the crowd seeing you chatting with a few of the students, a smile on your face. Biting his lip, he wanted to walk over, but instead walked back into the dining room, still embarrassed.

Like always, you were the last to clean your area, but that was alright. The quietness of the kitchen always soothed your nerves. You hummed, wiping down the counters with the sanitizer, almost finished. Surprised, you noticed some extra filling in one of the bowls. Everyone, well, your colleagues, complimented you on how amazing it tasted. To be honest, you only had a small taste before putting the macarons together. You took your finger and swirled some filling on the digit, bringing it up to your lips. You licked it clean off with a soft moan.

“Damn, that is good.”

A noise from behind made you jump as you looked over to see Jin standing in the doorway. You blushed profusely, trying to cover your hands. “Ah, S-Seokjin-nim! I didn’t realize anyone was still here!”

Jin gulped softly, placing his hands in front of him on the counter, feeling himself heat up. He cursed, trying to think of anything, but what he saw: your lips wrapped around your finger divulging in the sweet filling, had him stopped in his tracks. 

“I...ahem...came back to lock up,” he explained, the strain in his voice. His eyes bore into yours as you glanced away.

“Oh! I’m just about done. I’m sorry for making you wait.” You began wrapping the filling to put back in the cooler.

Jin chuckled, rubbing the back of his head, playing with the hair that tickled his neck. “Please don’t rush. Take your time.” He closed the distance, standing on the opposite side of the counter. “I wanted to talk to you about your dessert.”

You dropped the paper towel as you blinked up at him. “B-But I thought grades wouldn’t be up until Monday.”

He drummed his fingers on the counter and shrugged. “Aren’t you a little curious about what they said?”

You fiddled with the utensils biting your bottom lip. “I mean, yeah. I’m scared about failing. Even more worried, they hated it.” Your eyes met his with hope. “H-How did you like it?”

Jin leaned forwards beckoning you to come close with a curled finger. “You want to know?”

Your head bobbed eagerly. “Yes. Please Seokjin-nim, I wanna know.”

Being this close to him, you noticed the flicks of hazel in his eyes, the fullness of his lips—that chiseled face. Wait, why were you ogling your instructor?! You gulped softly as his eyes lingered on your lips, then back up to your eyes.

“I–”

Loved it.

“Hated it,” he replied.

You felt the air deflate from your lungs as your jaw dropped. Eyes bulging, someone could have knocked you over with a wooden spoon. He looked so relaxed at your expression, still staring. He hated it?! But why? How? It was the best thing you made, and it was edible?! Your lip trembled as the lump in your throat formed.

Jin burst into a fit of giggles, only making you even more confused and suddenly angry. He gasped through the tears, broad shoulder shaking. 

“You should see your face, Y/N! I need a picture.”

You huffed balling your fists. “I’d love to know what the joke is, Seokjin-nim.”

He wiped the tears away, chuckling softly. Coughing, he finally was able to calm down. “That was rude. Forgive me. I couldn’t help it.” He smiled brightly. “I’m just not a fan of flavored strawberry foods.”

You whimpered, collapsing against the counter as a sob wrecked your form. You wailed as all the emotions and stressed pent up from the week came crashing down. Jin ran over to the other side, wrapping you in a hug. Another squeak passed your lips as warmth engulfed you. He rested his chin on the top of your head. 

“Please don’t cry Y/N. I-I don’t want to be the cause of any tears you shed. Please.”

This was unexpected. Your tears stopped as you felt nervous in his arms, perplexed even. Why was he holding you? Still, it was nice to be carried like this, even if he was your instructor. 

You wiggled in his arms, looking up at him. A scowl twisted on your face. “That wasn’t very nice, Seokjin-nim.”

He brought his thumb up to wipe the stray tears. “I’m an idiot. Can you forgive me?”

You gave him a teary smile and nodded. “I couldn’t stay mad at you if I tried.”

He grinned, still holding you. “Why is that?”

“I like you,” you blurted out, cheeks reddened. Crap, he wasn’t supposed to know that.

Now it was his turn to turn red. He grinned, bopping you on the nose gently. “That makes two of us. I like you too,” he said shyly.

Your mouth gaped open. “Seokjin-nim–”

“Call me Jin, Y/N,” he ordered, eyes glittered with mischief.

You blushed once more with a giggle. “Okay, Jin.”

He laughed, pulling you at arm’s length to hold your hand. “You’re gonna pass. And to celebrate, I’m taking you out tomorrow. Sounds good?”

You stood on your tiptoes and gave him a gentle peck on the cheek. “Sounds sweet.”