#donte was just there to giggle and get eggshell into the cookies i fear

[xariarte]

free nova knicks writing from u?? sign me tf up!!

id like "baking gone wrong" with the nova trio (am i predictable.), if ur interested !!

Thanks for the prompt!! 🥺💖

I actually love writing baking stories, so I hope you enjoy this one! 😭

“Hey, no, Josh, wait!” Jalen said, scanning the recipe as Josh dumped a cup of sugar in the bowl. “It’s one and a half cups of sugar. How many did you put?”

They were making some cookies for Thibs, after finding out that the man had a sweet tooth. Jalen had the idea, Donte co-signed it and Josh…he bragged that he could make cookies, even though Jalen knew better. Josh didn’t know how to cook or bake. He’d once made a cake for his dog, but making a cake for a dog versus a human were two different things, even if Josh claimed otherwise.

“No, what are you talking about? It’s two!” Josh said at once, before leaning over to look at the recipe. “Oh, my bad, it’s one and a half. Whatever, I only put one cup. Relax.”

“It’s not whatever, we’re not trying to kill Thibs,” he huffed, then heard Donte start giggling from behind. “Shut up, ‘Te. Laugh any harder and I’ll ask Thibs to extend your minutes.”

He only laughed harder, while Josh squinted at the recipe in his hands. Jalen sighed, then pointed at the butter in front of him. He’d already carefully sliced it into cubes. Josh scooped up the butter with both hands and then dumped it in the bowl, before turning on the hand beater. 

“Slowly—Josh!” Jalen watched with alarm as Josh stuck the hand beater into the bowl and intensely creamed the butter and sugar. “We need more sugar!”

Josh lifted the beater, letting sugar and butter fly everywhere. He cursed and shut it off, while Jalen used the recipe to shield himself. He sighed horrendously, glaring at him, but Josh ignored him, pouring a messy half a cup of sugar into the measuring cup before dumping it into the bowl. He turned the beater back on and jammed it into the rest of the butter and sugar.

“‘Te, can you grab the eggs?” Jalen asked, then turned around to see Donte crack an egg and get pieces of shell into the egg whites. “Oh…my god. Donte!”

“Now they’ll be extra crunchy for Thibs to enjoy,” Josh told them, laughing loudly.

“What is wrong with you?” Jalen groaned. “We are not putting egg shell in there. Donte, get it out!”

Eventually, Donte cracked all the eggs and Josh dumped it into the bowl, still mixing. Jalen measured the flour, then added the salt. Donte took the recipe from him, and then added vanilla while Josh mixed some more. 

He hoped that Thibs would enjoy the cookies. That was their coach. He believed in Thibs, even if other people complained - including Josh - about the number of minutes he played them for. He was building a different New York Knicks team, one that was gritty and stronger than before. Jalen was carrying the weight of that idea, but Thibs believed in him, and he’d be damned if—

“Hello!” Josh said, poking his ear. “Give me the flour!”

“Bro!” Jalen said, yanking his head out of the way. “Dude, stop it.”

Josh took the bowl of flour from him and dumped half of the flour in. Jalen spluttered, wrenching the bowl away from him before he could dump all of it in. Josh gave him an incredulous look, holding out his hand, as if he expected him to hand him the bowl again. Donte giggled and slapped a high five into Josh’s hand, which in turn made Josh giggle.

Jalen was not amused.

“Relax!” Josh told him again, before sticking the beater back into the bowl.

An aggressive cloud of flour came up as soon as he turned on the beater, and then Jalen was arguing with him to hand him the beater, in which Josh argued back that he had it under control, and—

“Thibs called,” Donte said unhelpfully. “He said he’s coming with your dad.”

“Fuck,” Jalen said, then wrangled the hand beater from Josh and mixed the damn cookies himself.

It was only when the cookies were in the oven that Jalen realized that he’d forgotten the baking soda…or the baking powder, he couldn’t remember which. Josh noticed the change in him at once, then smiled, a grin full of teeth. Jalen twisted his mouth, knowing that Josh knew. He didn’t know exactly, but he knew Jalen had made a mistake. Donte was oblivious, still, but once he found out, he would dunk on him too.

“What is it, Jalen?” Josh asked, his voice normal, soft, even. “What’s up?”

Jalen glared at him, full on, then sighed, looking away. “Nothing, I just…I think…I forgot the damn baking powder. Or soda. I don’t remember which. Donte took away the recipe before I could check.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Donte protested at once.

“So what’s going to happen to the cookies?” Josh asked.

“Uh, I think they’ll be flat. Maybe we should pull it out sooner. Donte, how much time is left on the timer?”

“What timer?” Donte asked, looking at him in confusion. “You didn’t tell me to put a timer on.”

By the time Jalen ran to the oven, half the cookies were burning. Donte tried to apologize, but Jalen wasn’t having it, until Josh offered to scrape off the burned parts…causing his fingers to get burned, because he’d forgotten that the cookies were still hot.

“Ow!” Josh yelped, while Jalen dragged his hands down his face. “Fuck, I forgot they’d been in the oven.”

“Dude, you’re so dumb,” Donte told him. “Everyone knows the cookies need to cool down.”

“I’m dumb? This dumbass forgot the baking powder!”

“It was an accident!” Jalen grumbled. “Thibs is going to kill us for making him this.”

“If Thibs won’t eat it, I will,” Josh said, rolling his eyes. “And Donte and I won’t save any for you.”

“I’m not eating burned cookies!” Donte argued. 

“Even if I scraped all the bad parts off? Come on, ‘Te!”

In the end, they had to throw away the burned cookies. His dad had roasted them for the way they’d made them, as if the cookies weren’t already been roasted enough, and although Thibs tried his best to eat them, he gave up. He did say that the cookies were good, but that they needed to pull it out of the oven sooner next time. Jalen groaned as Josh pointed fingers at him and Donte again, spurring another round of arguments about who was to blame for the cookie disaster.