#Excerpt of BMD Part 6

[zepskies]

Watching Ben struggle on his attempts at making a meal on his own, after an argument, would be so funny. Like I could imagine him taking out a box of pasta then saying fuck it after reading the instructions Not even getting past step 2.

LOL that's for sure how it would go. 🤣

I have an ongoing headcanon that despite Soldier Boy/Ben's macho "I'm a real man" attitude, he hasn't had to cook for himself pretty much ever in life, so he'd be completely inept in the kitchen, save for maybe making coffee.

(Actual live footage of Ben fucking up):

That's why I wrote that scene at the end of Break Me Down Part 6, where the reader realizes this about him and finesses him into helping her cook spaghetti -- one of the most basic forms of pasta there is. 😝

Seriously, the man can't even chop an onion. It's both sad and hilarious, at least to me lol. (It's also meant to be their first genuine Beauty & the Beast moment of, "there's something there that wasn't there before.")

But even though she's laughing at him, she still helps him with grace:

As Ben was peeling the stubborn hide off the vegetable, it slipped out of his frustrated hands and rolled away. Thankfully it stopped just shy of falling off the counter. 

You couldn’t help a small giggle at his expense. He had the strength of twenty men or whatever, but he couldn’t chop an onion to save his life. 

Ben shot you a wryly amused look. ��Oh, you better not be fucking laughing at me.”

That just made you laugh in earnest, even though you covered your mouth with your hand. His grin deepened at the sound, despite the embarrassment making his face and neck warm up. 

He grabbed the hateful head of veg and looked anywhere but you as he got ready to try again. There was no way he was letting you, or this fucking onion, make a fool out of him. 

But your soft hand soon covered over his. You offered him a genuine smile, your eyes gleaming.

“Want me to show you a trick I learned?” you asked. 

He hesitated, but he eventually moved over and let you in on the action. You took up the knife, held down the onion, and cut the ends off first. Then you were able to more easily peel off the rest of the outer layer. 

“You can do this part any way you want, really. But I like to cut it down the middle first, then chop up one half at a time like this,” you explained.

And you felt Ben move in closer behind you to watch your methodical work. 

The heat from his proximity actually made you start to blush like a damn school girl. You tried to stamp it down, but heat flared into your cheeks when his hand covered yours and took back the knife.

“All right, all right, I got it. Move over,” he said.

You huffed, but you grinned and let him continue…

By the way his eyes later lit up when he tasted the meal, you knew he really did like your cooking. Now, you didn’t want to feed his outdated views on gender roles…but you could admit, seeing him enjoy something so simple as your grandma’s spaghetti recipe was gratifying. 

It wasn’t the first time you’d shared a decent moment with Ben. But it was the first time that it hadn’t felt like an act. You didn’t know what to do with that—or the conflicted feeling making your heart ache. 

And you certainly didn’t want to find anything about him endearing. 

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