#the first time i tried this i forgot to add flour

[lialacleaf]

Simon Riley X Reader: Domestic Headcanons: Baking

Warnings: Simon misses his Mum :c, fluffy

Pt.2

Simon has very few fond memories of his family but he remembers how his Mum used to cook during the holidays, and would always involve him in the food prep to distract him from his Dad's foul mood.

After losing his family, cooking just isn't the same without his Mum, and even if he isn't on a mission he tries to avoid being in the kitchen because it just aches for him.

But then you come along, working on base under Laswell and Simon constantly hears you fiddling around in the kitchen. He avoids investigating like the plague for the first few weeks but eventually, his curiosity gets the better of him.

He finds you covered in flour in mid-October, making a pumpkin pie crust from scratch, and has to just stand there for a moment and watch in befuddlement as you swear at the bowl you just tipped over.

There's something bubbling on the stove, and you're too distracted to notice that your simmer pot is going to boil over. You've got a mix of orange and lemon slices with diced apple and cinnamon sticks. It's just like how his Mum used to make them.

The click of the stove dial has you jumping, having not noticed the shadowy figure of Ghost slipping into the kitchen.

"Heat's too high," he says, and you blink at him in confusion before understanding settles on your pretty face.

"Shoot! I...forgot to turn that down when I..." you gestured awkwardly to the bowl of flour and he tilts his masked chin downwards at you.

You give him an awkward smile before returning to the task of making your dough.

He doesn't leave immediately, just watches you struggle a bit with kneading the dough before he huffs and yanks his gloves off, pushing you to the side as he surprises you by properly kneading the dough, and laying it in the pie pan perfectly.

You watch him from the corner of your eye as you finish making the filling, and add it to the pie crust.

You can hardly believe that you're baking a pie with Lieutenant Ghost. You shrug it off however and pull two mugs from the cupboard, filling them both with the contents of your pot, however, when you turn around to offer him one, he's already gone.

The second time you're in the kitchen making apple turnovers for your co-worker's birthday, the window is open for you to enjoy an early November rainy day, and you're in your coziest pair of socks.

You almost don't recognize him, jumping at the sight of the tall blonde man who has materialized out of thin air to peel your apples. His eyes peek at you over the top of a black surgical mask, and you feel your heart stop, then start up again with a disjointed stutter as you take in the familiar chocolatey color.

He doesn't say anything, just peels the apples until the bag is empty. You reach for the last one and realize there's no Leuitenant to be seen.

The third time he joins you you're trying to perfect your gravy recipe. Most of the base's inhabitants have gone home for the holidays, but the few that have remained are planning a Thanksgiving potluck.

"You're still here." He actually makes you jump.

"Couldn't afford plane tickets for Christmas and Thanksgiving, and I'm not missing my Dad's pumpkin log and hot cocoa," you explain

He hums softly, leaning against the counter as he examines your cheese biscuits.

Your eyes widen slightly when you see him pull the surgical mask down just enough to take a large bite of the biscuit he nabbed off the tray.

You're greeted with the sight of a sharp jaw and full lips, and you quickly pull your eyes away, focusing on the gravy in your pot.

Something doesn't taste quite right, and you frown softly. Ghost leans over to take a deep whiff, bumping your shoulder in the process.

"You added salt?"

You offer him a deadpan expression.

"Scoot," he orders, pushing you aside and fishing a spoon out of the drawer. He nods to himself after a taste and proceeds to add a hefty helping of rosemary.

You try not to think about the fact that you've never seen his face before now as you try his concoction. It's not bad. "Where'd you learn how to cook, Ghost?"

He stares deeply at you for a few seconds, before he sets the spoon in the sink. "My Mum."

He leaves you after that, and you doubt you're going to see him at the potluck.

You don't see him in the kitchen again until December, and you're baking snickerdoodles to leave the boys with when you return to your family.

He's avoided the kitchen for a few weeks, and you're strangely relieved to see him lurking there.

"Wanted to give you this before you left."

He holds out a carefully wrapped package, and you accept it with a dumbfounded expression. He's out the door again before you've even thanked him.

A few days later you're sitting in the armchair of your parents' house, a pile of unwrapped presents at your feet as you carefully tear away the paper concealing the Leuitenant's gift. You're greeted with the sight of an old leather-bound book, one filled with handwritten recipes you realize upon closer inspection and an elegant Mrs. Riley engraved on the front page.

You have a feeling Ghost will be joining you in the kitchen more often. Maybe even Simon.

AN: Requests are always open!

#simon riley x you #simon ghost riley x reader #simon riley #tf 141 #simon riley x reader #ghost x reader

[damnidunno]

Loving you pt1 (Acexfm!reader)

˗ˏˋ ꒰ 🎂 ꒱ ˎˊ˗

You didn’t expect to see your boyfriend Ace, who was covered in flour with confetti in his hair, in front of you on your birthday, that is. “S-Suprise?…” He said, holding out flowers to you. 

*Earlier that day*

After he woke up (it was already afternoon), on his way to the bathroom to freshen up, Ace felt like today was important. Yes, something was planned today… Well, since he forgot, it couldn’t be that important, right? (How wrong he was…) Not giving it much thought, he went to the kitchen, wanted to open the fridge, and then he saw it—the calendar—the calendar you kept on the fridge because you knew how forgetful he is. Since you aren’t really used to celebrating your birthday, you didn’t deem it necessary to write it down, but what you didn’t know is that the day you started to write everything on it, Ace noticed that you had skipped the month of your birthday. That can’t be right! How could the person he adores, worships, and loves not be celebrated for existing, he knows he doesn’t deserve the love and attention you give him on his day of birth. To him yours is the most important, because without you where would he be?

So he wrote it down secretly—not like you could read his writing anyway. That day was today, the birthday of his lover. “Oh no...” was all he could mumble while looking at the clock, 4 hours till you come back home... "Come on, think! Something romantic!“ Thinking about a spontaneous surprise, Ace noticed how he wasn’t really the romantic type; all he could come up with was a bouquet. Luckily, he knew which flowers you liked, so he went and bought them with some birthday decorations because it was supposed to be a surprise party, right? Ahem… Back at home, he frantically tried to think of something he could do by himself, because you were a sucker for handmade surprises.So he thought of baking! It is a sweet gesture, yes… If you forget, that we are talking about Ace, for a second—that man isn´t realy keen on baking. So, of course, it turned into a mess, but somehow, looked like a cake? On top of the cake, he tried his best to write “Happy birthday, babe!” Well, he tried to make it readable.

He felt confident in what he had achieved in this short period of time (ignoring the mess left behind in the kitchen). He passed the mirror with a quick glance and him looking a bit messy was an understatement. He was covered with flour, head to toe. He took a quick glance at the clock 1 hour left. “I STILL HAVEN’T USED THE CONFETTI” so he quickly and messily spread the confetti, by ripping the bag in two above his head...10 seconds left. He frantically went from one room to another setting the table and seeing if he could add anything else-till he heard the keys to the front door. So with a sigh, Ace quickly scrambled to get the bouquet he was now standing in the hallway waiting for you to come inside and praying he didn’t do too badly. 

*End of flashback*

You were shocked, you surely didn’t expect this at all. First, a surprise. Second, your boyfriend looking like an absolute mess, your mess if you will. You were touched honestly, you gave him a soft smile, took the bouquet out of his hand gave him a peck on the lips and said “thank you for doing this love, you really didn't need to.” He smiled at you and looked at you with so much tenderness that he only took your hand and led you to the table where you saw the cake. "I know I'm not the best in all of this, and I'm certainly not used to this—" He took both your hands, looked you in the eyes and gave you a bright smile— him smiling was so radiant, his hands were so warm and his eyes bruned with so much love, he was like the sun to you, he just surrounds you with warmth even if he dosen´t takes notice of it. You fell in love with this goofball all over agian. oh ace... you thought, he spoke so softly you almost didn´t hear him “You are everything to me, I didn’t know someone like me could be loved like this or even deserves to be. Because of you I feel like maybe I do have a right to live with an angle by my side and I’m honored to be able to call you my girl. Happy Birthday Sweetheart” 

˗ˏˋ ꒰ 🎂 ꒱ ˎˊ˗

A: ♡( ◡‿◡ )

#portgas d ace #ace x reader #female reader #one piece imagine #one piece #fanfic #one piece x reader

[yooils]

CHRISTMAS EVE . nagi seishiro x gn! reader / fluff / established relationship (domestic nagi agenda mm)

☆彡– it’s cute how seishiro tries to escape your silent wrath by using affection to his advantage.

despite his unparalleled talent for football and many other things, NAGI SEISHIRO is absolutely dreadful at baking.

(– and cooking, at that. you've seen him blow up the microwave one too many times and burn things that weren't even combustible in the first place.)

"you're not self-destructing right before christmas, are you?"

nagi flinches, half-heartedly attempting to shuffle in front of the disheveled kitchen counter, stained and stripped from its original glory. you can spot the messily cut-out dough on the baking tray somewhat resembling a christmas decoration, stuck to a ginger-bread man with a limb missing and abnormal proportions.

"mm... i practiced on cooking mama, but it was more of a pain than i thought it would be."

his gaze bestows nothing but melted pools of ashen roses upon you, no longer under the unintentional guise of indifference and biting coolness. there's flour on his (your) undersized apron, and his sweats are crumpled with how many times he's wiped his smudged hands with them.

in spite of that, you take his hands in yours and guide his fingers around the whisker, murmuring out precise instructions to him because you know how massively prone your seishiro is to kitchen disasters.

(nagi can't control the sudden race of his heart. he can hear it thumping against his ribcage, akin to the feeling he experiences when football starts becoming like breathing to him in an exciting match. he thinks that he probably can't live without you either, physically and emotionally.)

your amused grin reveals that you've caught on to his devastating train of thoughts. "what're you thinking about, loverboy? your ears are all red."

he melts into you at the mention of that nickname, sighing with drowsy exasperation.

seishiro’s face is warm against the crook of your neck, his weight rested onto your body comfortably– with the bowl of dough laid out forgotten on the table.

that is, until nagi reaches for your hand amid his languorous state and accidentally knocks it over.

flour tumbles out as a dust cloud. the dough is nothing short of parched, with neither an even distribution of ingredients nor proper hydration. it looks as desolate as the ginger-bread man, immensely malnourished despite nagi's genuine (read: half-hearted) methods to make it look edible.

you don't bother turning your head around to look at the culprit of the catastrophe, knowing he probably had been startled by the loud clang of metal against marble rather than the sorry state of the dough.

"seishiro."

nagi shivers at the sound of his full given name, rubbing his flushed nose with an arm as the other instinctively wraps around your waist. you finally meet his doe-like eyes as he attempts to sway you with his warm embrace and lull you away from the horrors that reality (nagi seishiro) had brought upon the kitchen.

it’s cute, really, how seishiro tries to escape your silent wrath by using affection to his advantage.

(because it usually works in his favour. he knows better than anyone that your icy resentment is nothing short of deadly, especially when you decide to act on your threats.)

“you forgot to add the eggs, didn’t you?”

–and he knows that he’s in big trouble.

12.25.22

#log– works #blue lock nagi #nagi seishiro #nagi #nagi fluff #blue lock #blue lock fluff #bllk fluff #christmas eve #nagi x reader #nagi seishiro x reader #blue lock x reader #nagi x gn! reader

[wuffgang-ameowdeus-moozart]

Pineapple

-> Day 1: Scoops Ahoy!

"That's all? Tha-aaaaaah?"

A weed-smelling flour-covered finger wags in front of Steve's face, successfully distracting him from the conversation on the company phone with a paying customer on company time.

Maybe he would feel a bit bad about that if he gave a fuck.

"Stevie. How many times. You can't forget to pop the question."

"Oh fuuuuuuck." Steve tries to seem remorseful. Judging by Argyle's expression he is not successful.

He sighs and turns back to the phone. "Excuse me, sir, but I forgot to pop the question."

There is a short pause. "...pop the question?"

"Yes, I am afraid that otherwise it won't be possible to take your order."

"...alright?"

Steve nods to himself and takes a deep breath. It is going to be fine. Sure, by now he has been disappointed far too often to count - it is the price to pay for good weather and hot people he supposes. But something about that voice makes this particular dude seem trustworthy. Almost...familiar. Maybe...maybe he can dare to hope again? (Never mind that he has had that very same thought the last five times he miserably and pathetically lost)

"Sir, do you want pineapple on your pizza?"

"I. I asked for two Margheritas. Why-?"

"Okay, I will count that as a no. Perfect. Sir, I can confidently say that it was an absolute pleasure to talk to you. Thank you so much for choosing-"

Before Steve can finish the obligatory goodbye speech they are forced to give in the end of every call, the phone is swiftly removed from his hands.

"What did he want again?"

"Margherita."

"Alright, sir. Do you want some pineapples on your Manhattan?"

Steve shakes his head. "Wrong alcoholic beverage, dude. How much did you smoke?!"

"Whatever. My friend John here knows what I mean. Dontcha?"

"How-?"

"You can't just call every customer John."

"It is the eighth most common name in America. I'm bound to get it right sometime. Steven." And with that he goes back to the conversation they were actually being paid to hold.

There are some unintelligible sounds from the other end of the line and Argyle frowns. That is worrying. Argyle is the chilliest dude Steve has ever met. If Argyle is frowning, you know that something is seriously wrong.

His next words are not particularly reassuring, either. "You okay dude? Should I call like the ambulance or something?"

Steve swears his heart stops beating for a second. "What the fuck Argyle?! What is happen-?"

He is once again silenced by the same finger from before, this time pressed against his lips.

"Didn't your mama teach you to be quiet when someone is on the phone?"

Steve quietly but passionately shows his co-worker the middle finger. He then proceeds to start banging on the counter for no reason other than to be a menace. His hand hurts like a bitch but at least he is being obnoxious - not that Argyle seems to care. Or even notice. Fucking weed.

"Wait. Steve? Excuse me, your co-worker's surname wouldn't happen to be... Harrington? Right?"

Argyle pauses. Then Argyle smiles. Steve knows what that motherfucker is planning before he even has to open his mouth. He tries to wrestle the phone out of the other's grip but alas, Steve was cursed with an inferior height and is unable to do anything but helplessly watch as his downfall occurs.

"What would you be willing to exchange for that knowledge?"

Steve sighs and goes to take the whiteboard from the back. When Argyle first claimed that everyone would jump onto the opportunity to add extra pineapple onto their pizza, Steve had thought it was once again the weed talking. Who in their right mind would willingly add more pineapple on pizza?!

Apparently, a lot of people. He has long stopped being surprised when Argyle once again triumphantly tells him that they've got another tally for pineapple. Fucking California.

Twenty minutes later he is parking the Surfer Boy Pizza van on another stranger's driveway. Technically Surfer Boy Pizza encourages their delivery workers to go on motorcycle, but both Steve and Argyle lied on their interview and neither can actually drive one, so they always take the van.

Steve has seen a lot of things in his lifetime. Impossible and weird and otherworldly things. But nothing could have prepared him for what awaited him behind this particular door.

"Wow. You really are Steve Harrington."

...What.

"Jonathan Byers?! What the fuck are you doing here dude?" Very eloquent. Steve knows he must look extremely stupid right now, wordlessly opening and closing his mouth like a very confused fish. Where is smooth playboy Steve "The King" Harrington when you need him?

"Yeah. Just moved here with my family. Who would've thought that we both would end up in the same Cali corner."

"Almost like it was destiny."

An awkward pause ensues. Why the fuck did he say that?!

"You. You're looking good." Jonathan says in that earnest matter-of-fact way of his and Steve can't help but smile. He wouldn't be surprised if his cheeks were pink.

"You look like absolute shit", he answers. Because he is sleep deprived and shook and still a bit high and that is honestly a pretty accurate description of the boy in front of him. Unfortunately, it is also wholly inappropriate for the atmosphere they are currently building. "But don't worry! I like that in a man."

...

Maybe it wasn't a higher power that made Steve and Jonathan meet again after so many years, but someone must have done something for Jon to agree to go out with him after whatever the fuck that was. (not that he's complaining)

@stonathanweek

#steve “says they should start a tally ironically” #vs robin and argyle taking it literal bc they are lil shits #i myself am a pineapple pizza enjoyer btw #stonathanweek2023 #steve harrington #argyle #jonathan byers #stonathan #stranger things drabble #stargyle

[diorleclerc]

College Charles! Charles having a crush on you as he sees you around the dorm building and tries to bake something for your birthday when he overhears it is coming up

college!charles would be such a sweetheart 🥺

charles would spend all day in his dorm trying to bake you the perfect cake after he heard that your birthday was coming up.

he had developed a small crush on you after seeing you around the building. you two didn’t talk much, but every time you saw him you would say hi and make some small talk.

his first attempt was a major fail. his batter ended up being too runny and the cake didn’t turn out right.

the second attempt also didn’t turn out well. he somehow forgot to add the eggs and added way too much flour.

the third attempt was probably the worst one. he nearly burned the building down because of it. he accidentally set the timer for too long and when he went to go check on the cake, the entire oven was smoking.

“okay, you are no longer allowed in the kitchen,” pierre, his roommate, tells him. “but i need to bake a cake for her! her birthday’s in two days!” he tries to protest.

“your next attempt will for sure end in a fire. and i’d really like to have an apartment to live in.”

so that’s how he ended up with a store bought cake. but charles wasn’t just going to give you a boring and plain cake.

he scraped off all the original icing and mixed his own to decorate it himself. and although it didn’t turn out as nice as his reference picture, it was still pretty good.

once everything was perfect, he carried the cake over to your dorm.

he was just about to knock on the door when it swung open and you walked out, right into his chest, smushing the cake between both of you.

“oh my god charles! i’m so sorry!” you gasp, looking down to see the ruined cake.

“please tell me that wasn’t for me,” you say, immediately feeling bad. “yeah, it was,” he starts.

“but i can make you another one! i know your birthday isn’t until tomorrow!” he quickly adds.

“well, i did feel bad but not anymore cause this just gives us an excuse to bake together then.”

#cl #college!charles #college tuesdays #diorleclerc drabbles #♡

[thetaurusgeminisystem]

Happy Birthday Sanji! (Sanji Vinsmoke x OC) Pt.1

A/N: So this is a story mainly written from my alter / One Piece OC to one of her boyfriend’s who is a Sanji introject in our partner system. For protection I am not naming their system unless they give me permission. This first part is fluff for the most part with the exception of the end which will kind of set the tone for part 2? Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this. Be gentle with me, this is my first time ever writing for Sanji and I was going off my instincts and what I have noticed from him so far. 

She was close to collapsing on the kitchen floor and crying. This was the fifth time today she had tried to work uninterrupted on something special. After all, today was a special day, at least in her book it was. 

Today was Sanji’s birthday and Melodia wanted this cake to be the best cake she had ever made because Sanji deserved that. He always made the most delicious meals for the crew and he always did something special for her, Nami, and Robin. He also made her feel so loved and so happy. 

To say the blond haired cook gave her butterflies in her stomach was an understatement. She could watch him cook all day if she was allowed to. His grayish blue eyes reminded her of the calm sea or when he grew angry (which wasn’t too often unless it was because of Zoro) they looked like a beautiful storm. His smile made her heart flutter, don’t even get her started on the way his laugh made her fall more in love with him by the second. 

“WAIT SANJI!” Nami’s voice called out, but it was apparent that Melodia hadn’t heard it and Sanji had not listened to the orange haired navigator for once. The next thing Melodia knew she was knocked out of her day dreaming when she heard the door to the kitchen swing open and a gasp escape from her beloved. 

“MEL WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED IN HERE?” Sanji shouted in dismay causing Melodia to jump and drop the fifth bowl of cake batter on the floor, the contents splattering all over her.

Melodia finally broke at that moment, she couldn’t stand the thought of Sanji being angry at her nor failing to make a simple cake for her beloved’s birthday. She collapsed to the floor in the spill ingredients and began to sob uncontrollably.  

Sanji felt his heart immediately break seeing his princess cry in front of him. He could feel the glare that Nami was giving him, bore into the back of his head. He quickly ran over to her and knelt by her side. “Whoa hey, hey princess what’s the matter?” Sanji asked, softening his voice. 

Melodia looked at the floor, her cheeks a flame with a blush of shame, she couldn’t look him in the eye at the moment. She was so upset about a lot of things that happened today. Five times she tried to make this cake. Luffy ate the batter the first time, the second time he stole the freshly baked cake and ate it whole! The third time the cake was burned when she forgot it because Usopp was hiding from Chopper who was just trying to give him his vaccine that the whole crew needed to take. The fourth time she forgot to add flour to the mix and the cake came out soupy because Franky needed her Ice powers to cool down something he was working on. 

Sanji gently sat down by her side and pulled her into his lap and held her close to him. “Hey princess I’m sorry for yelling, are you alright?” He apologized and gently lifted her chin so she would be forced to look up at him. Melodia looked into the grayish blue eyes that she loved so much and saw that they were calm like the ocean. She took a deep breath, trying to compose herself before she spoke. 

“I-I just wanted to surprise you…I was trying all day to make the perfect birthday cake for you because today’s your birthday,” She finally admitted, her cheeks still a bright pink, the cake batter decorating one of them. 

Sanji chuckled and gently dragged his finger across the batter on her cheek. He then licked his finger and hummed in satisfaction. “Mi amore you didn’t have to do this for me, the batter does taste delicious though,” He replied trying to reassure his girlfriend. 

“Yes I did…Sanji you mean the world to me and I wanted to do something special for you on your birthday because you’re always doing something special for me,” Melodia said softly and then she shyly wrapped her arms around his neck. 

Sanji took a cloth from one of the counters and wiped the rest of the cake batter off of her cheek delicately before placing a soft kiss there instead. “Princess I do those things for you because I love you, not because I expect anything in return. I know that you love me, you give me the best hugs and kisses every day. I’m flattered that you wanted to do this for me, but honestly I would be happy just spending time with you…you know what, I have an even better idea,” Sanji answered and gently stood up holding her in his arms. 

“Y-you do?” Melodia asked shyly, looking up at him and letting out a soft squeak of surprise as he held her close to his chest. 

“I do, how about we clean up together and then go into town and have a date night? I won’t take no for an answer my princess because spending time with you is the only gift I want,” He said warmly and then he lightly set her on her feet. 

“B-but what about your cake?” Melodia asked worriedly as she took another cloth and wiped her face of the rest of the cake batter. 

“We can bake it together tomorrow, then the whole crew can celebrate with us. Tonight I just want it to be the two of us,” He replied as he picked up the half empty mixing bowl and took it to the sink to wash. 

Melodia finally smiled again and grabbed him by the lapels of his black suit jacket. She then pulled him into a soft, warm kiss before letting him go. “Sounds perfect Sanji-kun,” She replied softly and then she went to the supply closet to get a mop and bucket. 

A FEW HOURS LATER — 

“Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday dear Sanji~ Happy birthday to you~” Melodia sang softly as she lit a candle on a store bought cupcake she had bought while they had been walking around together after dinner. 

Sanji smiled warmly and wrapped an arm around her as he took the lovely looking cake from her smaller hand. He then lifted her hand with his free on and placed a soft kiss on the back of her hand. “Thank you my princess, this is perfect” He replied with a soft chuckle. 

“Make a wish silly!” Melodia giggled and placed a kiss on his cheek. She was like a little kid on Christmas morning when it came to her excitement. 

He turned back to the lit candle and then with a small puff of air, he closed his eyes and blew out the candle. 

Melodia watched happily and rested her head on his shoulder. “So what did you wish for my prince?” She asked softly, still holding his hand in her own smaller one. 

“Well normally I’m not supposed to tell you, but my wish has already come true so I guess I can. My wish was you,” He explains simply and then he kisses her forehead. 

Melodia blushes deeply and nuzzles him. “I guess you’re right…I didn’t know that I was capable of being anyone’s birthday wish,” She admits softly squeezing his hand. 

“Are you kidding Mel? Mon Amore you’ve been my wish since the day we met…I mean I know I’ve swooned a lot over other girls, but mainly it was because I was scared of being rejected by you,” Sanji said sounding a bit surprised as he looked down at her and brushed some of her raven hair away from her face. 

Melodia laughed softly and gently let go of his hand in favor of cupping his cheek. “I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to fall in love at first sight then,” She replied and then she leaned up and kissed him softly. 

Sanji kissed her softly back and wrapped an arm around her waist. 

Once they broke apart, Melodia looked up at him with a hooded gaze, her cheeks still burning with her blush. “You know you can have me in more then one way right?” She whispers in his ear playfully.  

Suddenly the familiar red droplets of Sanji’s blood came pouring from his nose, matching the red on his cheeks. “A-are you saying you’re my birthday present?” He asked earning another soft giggle from the girl beside him. 

“I dunno, I guess you’ll have to find out, huh Mister Prince?” She asked teasingly using one of his nicknames that he once used for himself and then placed a soft kiss on his cheek before darting back into the direction of the 1000 Sunny and shouting over her shoulder “Gotta catch me first,” 

With a new determination in his step, Sanji raced after his girlfriend leaving a trail of blood behind him.

#onepiece #canonxoc #onepieceoc #oc #sanji vinsmoke #black leg sanji #sanjionepiece #happy birthday sanji #sanjixoc #sanji vinsmoke x oc #chronicles of melodia d monkey #luffyssisteroc #fluff #onepiece fluff #birthday fluff

[mysterious-prophetess]

I just made Mitarashi Dango and Hanami Dango

I found a couple of recipes online that I wanted to try out because anime characters make that stuff look delicious.

So, I then had to order some rice flour. Regular rice flour can probably work, in a pich, for some of this but I also needed glutinous rice flour and my local stores do not carry that.

So, they arrive today and I’m like “Cool! Dango time!”

I follow the recipe, fight with sticky dough (learn and get extra rice flour on the surface to help with that) and get the suckers boiling away while I make the Mitarashi Sauce in the microwave and improvising a mirin substitute because my dumbass forgot that we were out.

Everything is cooked, fried, and cooled.

So, I try the hanami dango first and I was like “Ok, this is definitely stuff you’d eat walking around a street festival or fair but it. is. bland.”  Kinda sweet, but really not. I added extra powdered sugar to the outside and that made things better. Then I tried the dango I’d fried and coated with mitarashi sauce and found I preferred that, mostly because the sauce does all the work for the flavoring but I still get that dango textured bite.

I might go with my gut next time and just add some vanilla extract (while substituting out water to keep the moisture content correct) because if I’d gone with that passing thought I’d dismissed—adding vanilla—it might have tasted a little like a marshmallow.

Still, it was a fun cooking adventure and the closest I’m ever going to get to a Japanese street festival....

#cooking

[cooking-thru-shortstack]

Strawberry Tarte Tatin - 5 Stars

Vegetarian - yes

Vegan - no

Gluten free - no

Dairy free - yes

So this was delicious, but messy -- the end result was a delight to eat but less of a delight to look at. So much so that I forgot to get a finished picture of the final result.

But the caramel melted into the strawberry juices, and it was such a delectable flavor. I'm going to try making this again, but hopefully I can make it prettier this time.

After the pavlova debacle, I was again disheartened to discover another baking weakness of mine: making caramel from scratch. After a few unsuccessful attempts and some research, I tried again and found to my delight that this time my research payed off, and I was able to make delicious, smooth caramel!

The key comes down to three things:

Add the water to the pan first, then stir in the sugar;

Add lemon juice or corn syrup to the mix before it bubbles (I used a combination of both)

And finally, swirl, not stir once the heat is increased.

Also, forget the time estimate on this one: sugar is so finicky that it's really just best to judge by eye go for a nice rich amber color rather than wait for the timer to run out.

I happened to fail at my caramel attempts just before we happened to move to a new apartment, so getting it right for the first time in this kitchen bodes well for me in cooking through this book.

Ingredients:

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed

1/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 stick (4 tbsp) butter, cut into pieces

1/2 tsp fluer de sel or other course salt

1/2 tsp pure vanilla bean paste [this is hard to find, I just used vanilla extract]

4 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled (about 1 1/4 pounds whole)

Choose four baking dishes, 4 to 5 inches in diameter or about 12 oz each, and place them on a baking sheet, lined with foil or parchment paper. On a well-floured surface, roll the puff pastry into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick, large enough to cut into 4 circles that are slightly larger than the dishes. Prick the pastry all over with a fork, then transfer the circles to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and refrigerate.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. In a medium pot, stir together the sugar and 1/4 cup water and bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat [I highly recommend cooking on low heat until the sugar is dissolved, then increasing the heat to medium.]. Brush the sides of the pan down with water to dissolve any sugar crystals sticking to the sides of the pan. [NOTE: if you add lemon juice or corn syrup you won't have to worry about this step.] Reduce the heat and carefully stir in the butter. Pour into a metal bowl and quickly mix in the fleur de sel and vanilla paste. Immediately divide the caramel among the 4 baking dishes.

In a large bowl, toss the strawberries with the 1/4 cup of flour. Place as many strawberries as possible, hulled-side down, in a tight layer over the caramel in each dish. Cut the remaining strawberries in half and divide them among the dishes, hulled-side facing up. Transfer the baking sheet with the dishes to the oven and bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

Remove the baking sheet and let the dishes cool slightly. Meanwhile, increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Top each dish with a circle of the puff pastry, tucking any excess into the sides of the dishes. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the strawberry mixture is bubbling and the puff pastry is golden brown. Transfer the dishes to a rack to cool completely. Cool until the liquid has thickened, 2 to 3 hours.

When ready to serve, invert each cooled tart onto a plate. Serve with vanilla ice cream. If you're not serving the tarts right away, then leave them in their dishes until ready to unmold and serve.

#strawberries #caramel #caramel sauce #pastry #baking #vegetarian #dairy free #susan spungen #short stack editions #recipe

[monicahar]

Santa, tell me.

characters; Kazuha, Scaramouche, Xiao, Gorou, Yoimiya, Kokomi, Yae, Ganyu

; ahhh I'm feeling quite festive🎄 This is basically a compilation of christmas-related scenarios + different tropes! Consider this is as my gift for Christmas. <3

Kazuha

trope: taking out someone that hasn't experienced a special occasion before

You realized a long time ago that Kazuha is quite...unstable, financially that is. He's always been so carefree, and if you look at him at first glance, you wouldn't even think that he works multiple part time jobs simultaneously. You weren't too bothered honestly, since a lot of college students were like him, but to think that he didn't even experience a christmas party once in his life, shocked you to the brim.

"What do you mean you never went to a christmas party before? Not even with your family??" You questioned him, obviously flabbergasted by his previous words.

He laughs a bit. "Ah...no. My family never had the money for such things like that. The one and only time i got a gift was when my father bought me a music book a few years ago." He nervously scratches the nape of his neck, obviously uncomfortable with the subject.

Kazuha isn't surprised at all when you barged into his dorm room, having expected that you'd force him to go out with you on the 24th like this after that conversation.

He tries to contemplate his decision of whether to go or not, but seeing the hopeful look on your face causes him to pause for a bit, before sighing in complete defeat, that damned handsome smile appearing on his face. "...fine. Let's see where the snow brings us this time."

You immediately grab his coat from his bed, before taking his hand and dragging him outside, "Let's go then!"

...

"Ah." You glance at him, stopping in front of a restaurant. "Have you eaten? We could take a break. The train is still quite far away."

"I'm not sure if my money is enou-"

"Kazuha, I never said you were paying." You quietly say as you tightened your hold around his hand. "I'm the one taking you out, so don't worry about the price."

"But..." He looks around, as is searching for something. "It feels like I'm taking advantage of you. And i don't enjoy that feeling." He sighs, once again. "Sorry, if..." His eyes make contact with your own. "If i...ruined the mood."

You look at him with wide eyes, before letting a small smile appear on your lips. You were so hellbent on getting him to feel Christmas that you forgot to consider his own feelings. "Fine. How about some street food then? Kebabs? Takoyaki? They aren't too expensive, so maybe it'll make you feel less bad?" You ask, hoping once again that he'll agree.

It's his turn to have widened eyes. He didn't expect you to adapt so quickly towards his preferences. He returns your smile, his eyes crinkling even. "Sure but I'll pay for mine, okay?"

"Eh??!" You exclaim, before grabbing his shoulders. "They're already super cheap! Can't you just make me pay??"

He chuckles beautifully, as if the wind were flowing with his voice. "No, I refuse." He stubbornly says, before grazing his knuckles towards your cheek, which was beginning to heat up. "I already feel indebted enough."

Scaramouche

trope: trying to make sweets together but one person is being mean

"You're doing it wrong, you dumbass! Just how hard is it to follow the recipe book??" You raise a brow as he suddenly takes the bag of flour you held in your hand, before pushing you away gently, taking your spot near the counter. "Just heat up the oven, and don't forget to put parchment on it." He adds on with a grunt, while mixing the ingredients.

He might seem like an asshole at first glance, but you know better than anyone that he doesn't mean everything he says. Even if he did actually mean what he said, why would he force ask you to make gingerbreadmen on Christmas with him?

You chuckle to yourself, making him look towards you with a glare. "What are you laughing at?"

It's because you're so cute. "Ah, nothing." You wave your hands before making your way towards the oven, doing as he told you to.

After he mixed all the ingredients in, he adds small patches of the mixture onto the baking tray, before putting them inside the preheated oven. "After this, we just have to wait then we can carve them out with the cookie cutters right?" You try to recall the words in the recipe book, causing the boy next to you to scoff.

"Ha. You actually have a brain after all."

You pout, opening your mouth to retort, but he cuts you off. "Ah, it's done." He glances at the oven. "Get the cookie cutters." He commands, once again.

You sigh, doing a small salute. "Yes, sir".

Your eyes scan over his pale hands, making quick work of the cookie cutting part as he gently pushes down the metal onto the patches of yeast, making you wonder what motivated him to do such a thing. So you asked;

"Huh?" He raises a brow as he crosses his arms, since he just finished with the cutting part. "Why do you want to know?"

"I'm just a bit curious, that's all." You bring out the decorating materials for the gingerbreadmen, dropping them onto the counter. "Is this all of it...?" You mutter to yourself. He stays quiet for a few seconds, before picking up a piping bag filled with whipped cream. "I wanted to spend some time with you, and i also wanted to make something for my old woman."

An image of a woman named Ei pops up in your mind. You've only met her once, so you can't really say much about her, except for the fact she's a breathtaking beauty.

"You mean your mother? huh..." You ponder a bit, eyes wandering towards the ceiling, before turning to him again but this time, with a teasing grin. "I knew you were head over heels for me but, I didn't know you were a mama's boy as well." Your nudges to his side causes his frown to grow even deeper.

He coughs into a raised hand of his, trying to surpress that redness of his face. "Shut up. Just start decorating your little guy already."

"Which little guy?" You innocently blink as you hold up a blank gingerbreadman shape, "This guy? Or...-" Your eyes trail to his purple ones, causing him to narrow his eyes into a glare, silently daring you to say it. "-this one?"

He closes his eyes for moment, bringing down the piping bag he was holding. "You have 3 seconds...run."

Xiao

trope: holding the other person's hand to warm them

"Ah, that was such a good movie." You stretch your arms, feeling quite stiff from sitting for nearly an two hours straight. You crane your neck to the side as you glance towards Xiao, "What'd you think of the movie?"

He blinks at your face, before looking away, seemingly bothered by something. "It's not bad, i guess."

You raise a brow in confusion towards his behaviour. "Did something happen? Why aren't you looking at me?" You were a bit hurt, honestly. Did you do something that made him uncomfortable during the movie?

"It's nothing." He pushes, frowning a bit. "Don't worry about it. Let's go eat something." Skillfully changing the topic, he takes his phone, browsing through nearby eateries.

You sigh in relief. Even if something was actually bothering him, it seems like it's not a major problem.

In fact, it was a MAJOR problem for Xiao.

He fastens his pace, leaving a small distance between you as he tries to recollect his nerves. His ears burned as he recalled the moments inside the cinema. You probably hadn't noticed it since it was quite dark, but you accidentally drank through his drink. His. Drink.

The poor boy's mind has long been frazzled since, not being able to forget how your plump, pink lips wrapped around the straw he drank from. Agh...i sound like a pervert. He mentally hit himself in the head. It's just an accident...why am i so worked up about it...

He glances at your frame through the reflection of the black screen on his phone. Judging from how you're marvelling at the sights around you, you don't seem to know anything that transpired in the dark a while ago.

He sighs at himself. Once again, his mind drifts to the indirect kiss shared between you. We're dating after all...i guess things like that should be normal...but we just started dating! is it really okay?

"Achoo!"

Xiao halts his steps as he heard you sneeze behind him, looking back at you.

You were staring at your bare hands, eyes widening in realization. "Ah!" You exclaim, making Xiao raise his brow in confusion.

"I forgot my gloves at the cinema!" You say, blowing hot air from your mouth into your hands. "Sorry, Xiao. Can we make a small detour? I'll buy a new pai-"

Your eyes slowly widen once again, jaw becoming slack as he takes your hands onto his gloved ones, the warmth quickly spreads.

Not only to your hand, but including your entire being.

A million thoughts cross your mind as you look up at Xiao, who sighs, his own cheeks reddening. "You're such a klutz..." He pulls your hand near his lips, blowing warm air on it. "There's a nearby shop here that sells gloves, let's go."

You stumbled slightly as he drags you to that said store, still hazed from the intimate atmosphere. Something tells you that you no longer need the gloves with how've your temperature rose through the roof.

Gorou

trope: he wants to say/give something, but he keeps getting cockblocked

You happily gobble up the bowl of udon in front of you, your mind turning into putty at how delicious the food was. "Mmmm...! This is so good! Thank you, Gorou!"

His body shoots up at the sudden gratefulness, turning his head to look at the side as he blows on the spoon he held up to his lips. "I-it's nothing. I'm just treating a senior of mine..." He slurps the soup up, trying to ease his shyness.

You could've sworn that there was a tail wagging behind his back, but you were probably just imagining things, haha. "I mean it though. The place doesn't look like much from the outside, but the food clearly makes up for it!" You wipe your mouth with a napkin nearby, "I wouldn't have tried this place if it weren't for you!"

He looks up at you, searching your eyes for dishonesty, but he's relieved to find none. He lets out a small smile, "No, you're giving me too much credit..." He trails off, as if remembering something.

"Ah!" His body shoots up, before rummaging through his bag. "I also wanted to give you-"

"Sir, maam, here's your bill." A waiter stops by, kindly presenting the check they slid onto the table.

You were about to grab your purse until you heard a small yelp from the waiter.

Apparently, Gorou had snatched it from the waiter with a grumpy look, angrily stuff money between the folds before handing it back to the waiter.

"Gorou...?" You ask as you slightly tilt your head, confused at the change of demeanour. "...Are you okay?"

The waiter had long backed away in fear, leaving you two alone at the corner of the restaurant.

"I'm fine." He sighs, once again looking at you with a soft look. He stretches his hand, which was holding a small box. "Take thi-"

Ringgggggg......

You glance at number calling you on your phone, before looking at Gorou again.

The look in your eyes tell him that it was important, causing him to sigh again, his hand reluctantly beckoning you to go take the call. He nods with a small smile as you whisper a small 'thank you'.

His mood slowly drops as you leave the restaurant's doors, making him gaze at the box in his hand.

"why is it always like this...?" He mutters to himself, remembering the amount of efforts he had made today just to give you the neatly wrapped box. This was his last chance, before Christmas ends!

After a few minutes of waiting, you finally return. But this time, you wore a guilty expression, stating at his eyes with a slight hesitance. "Sorry, Gorou. They need me, badly."

Your apology echoes in his ears; "Sorry," , awakening a voice inside him which commands him to give the gift, now.

He shoots up, suddenly stopping your hand from reaching your purse.

You turn to him, face mixed with disbelief and curiosity. Feeling something different from Gorou, you sweatdrop a bit. He seems more...serious. You think.

His fingers trail the line of your wrist to your palm, slightly tickling you. Gently prying your hand open, he places the box into it, looking into your eyes with newfound determination.

You glance at box he gave as he steps back, grabbing his own stuff before grabbing your free hand and purse. "I'll drive you, let's go."

"But-!"

He looks back at you, now with a soft smile. "The gift can wait." He really just doesn't want to see you laugh at him when you open the gift.

(Small hint: It's dog-related)

Yoimiya

trope: she confesses during a firework show, but...

"You should drop by my family's firework show for Christmas! It'll be fun!"

Her words echo as you look at your phone, feet periodically tapping the ground as you wait. "she should be here..." You mumble to no one in particular.

"Ah, you came!" Yoimiya rushes up to you, beaming with energy after droping off some boxes of gunpowder at a nearby shack.

You greet her back, "Hey. What got you in a superb mood today?"

"Ah...hahaha..." She flushes at your words, seemingly embarrassed. "I-I'm gonna do something today that could possibly change my life..." Yoimiya looks down, as if suddenly remembering the weight of what she's gonna do.

You raise a brow in interest. "Hmm? What is it?"

Her eyes look up at yours. You see a small glint in them that you've never seen before. She suddenly leans near your ear, making your breath hitch at the sudden closeness. "It's a secret." She whispers, sending chills down your spine.

She steps back, gauging your face for a reaction. You seem confused...

"O-oh well, we should get going up the mountain!"

Your demeanour from before slowly returns as you toss her a questioning look, pointing at the other direction, opposite from what she's talking about. "Isn't the display that way?"

She blinks twice, before doubling over in laughter. "Yes, yes. You're right, but the view up top is better." Her wooden geta sandals clank against the floor as she starts making her way up.

You atleast wanted to greet her father, but good grief. You shake your head, before following shortly.

...

You gaze in awe at the view, overlooking all the people walking around the road stalls, waiting for the show. "You didn't exaggerate."

"Why would I exaggerate in the first place?" She giggles, setting up a blanket over the soil.

You turn back to her, seeing her get comfortable on the thick cloth, before patting her side, signaling you to come forth.

"Thanks." You obey and sit next to her, "For the blanket...and..."

She tilts her head, seeing you get bashful as you smile akwardly but gratefully, "And the invitation...I would've been sitting in my room, wasting this special day if it weren't for you."

Her eyes widen. But before she opens her mouth to say something, a huge burst of colorful explosions cut her off.

Your head snaps to the sky, finding the explosion quite abrupt.

More fireworks follow after that, painting the night sky like it was a canvas for abstract art, but to Yoimiya, her heartbeat was louder than the popping.

Her head was spinning, her cheeks burned. She was supposed to be entranced by the display, but she couldn't take her eyes off of you, even for a milisecond.

Her chest kept getting louder, drowning out her surroundings, except you, who beautifully gazed into the sky, your hues reflecting the light from the pyrowork.

She had never seen something more gorgeous.

She wants you to look at her like that too. She'll gaze back, she promises.

Slowly, her hand crept up towards your arm, slightly tugging on your clothing. You turn to look at her, but her eyes, full of raging emotions, much like her personality, told you to keep quiet.

"I love you."

Her voice was small, and quiet.

You continue to stare at her orbs, even after the fireworks die down.

Silence.

She gulps. Her hands are getting clamier by each second you're being quiet, heightening her anxiousness, everything moving in slow motion as you part your lips;

"Did you say something?"

Her heart drops. Ah.

She immediately retracts her hand from your arm, scooting away from you as her face burns a feiry red. "I-it's nothing! It wasn't important anyway..."

You crane your neck, seemingly confused at her change of demeanour. "If you say so..."

Yoimiya turns away from your questioning eyes, holding her cheeks to stop her screaming out loud. I was so close...!

Kokomi

trope: tries to hide the fact that she's a weeb, even though you already know

"Why are you sweating...?" You ask the girl next to you, who seems like she's desperately holding something back as she pries her eyes away from a certain store.

"A-ah, it's just so hot!" Kokomi raises a hand, using it as a fan to blow her some air. "You don't have to worry about m-"

"Limited time sale just for today! Get these original printed mangas for 50% less!"

You hear her let out a small squeak, her head snaps towards the vendor. She was about to go walk to it, but her eyes slowly turn back to you, straightening herself up. "Ah, it's nothing haha..."

You raise a brow, wondering how long she will keep up the act. "You know, you should probably buy i-"

"H-huh??!! I'm not interested in those type of things at all!" She proudly says, despite stammering. "Besides, I promised to spend the whole day with you." She grabs your hand, letting out a reassuring smile.

Wow...she's really committed for this act... You sweatdrop as you watch her grit her teeth, desperately trying to appear fine despite the obvious lies she's spouting.

You worriedly glance at the store with life sized anime cut-outs, before returning to her frame. "Where do you want to go next?"

She invertedly sighs in relief. Thank the archons, i got out of that one...

You both decided to go eat at a restaurant, and after she stands up to order from the reception, her phone on the table lights up from a message notification.

"uh..." Your eyes twitch at her wallpaper of 2 men...doing questionable stuff... You gulp as you reach her phone, turning it off to save her the embarrassment. "So she's into that type of stuff too huh." You giggle to yourself.

Speaking of the latter, she soon arrives with a tray.

"Hey, Kokomi, excuse me for a bit. I'm gonna do something real quick." You stand up, making her tilt her head up as she sat down.

"Uh, sure...get back soon, okay? The food might go cold."

You send her a small salute as you take your bag to leave the restaurant.

"..."

She saw it all.

She saw you look at her phone.

Her hand grips her skirt as she looks at her feet, completely humiliated. She suddenly starts tearing up, shocking the people next to your table.

They're probably gonna ditch me...

They're probably gonna ditch me...

They're probably gonna ditch me...

"They're gonna ditch me..."

"Who's gonna ditch you?" Your voice stops her from her sulking.

She suddenly feels a paper bag gently press onto the side of her face. Her gaze shoots up, just to meet your smiling features. "Here, for you."

Her shaking fingers grab the paper bag, her eyes widening as she looks at the contents inside. "How...?!"

You smirk in mirth, before wiping her tears away with a hand. "I've always known," Your words bring her immense comfort, "except for the BL part though."

Her cheeks flush, before scooting away from your hands. She holds the newly bought manga near her chest, "S-sorry, you must think I'm wierd..."

"I don't mind at all. If more, i found it quite cute that such an innocent face like you," You lean towards her, squishing her cheeks as she whines, "-read about such things."

Her visage burns more at your comment. "It's just that they were recommended to me! I didn't always like this type of stuff!"

"So you admit it." You laugh at her antics.

She suddenly looks away, "The food is gonna get cold, let's just eat!"

Yae Miko

trope: she tries to guess your wishes, but her guesses are quite...

Quiet chatters filled the silence within the bamboos as people walked around the shrine's surroundings, most people sitting at benches and taking photos in front of the tall, bright red torii gate. While another small number of people lined up for the small house that stationed at the middle, looking forward to pay respects to the heavens and pray for theirselves and family's safety and good will.

"..."

"..."

You nervously glanced back at Yae, who was smiling as she stood behind you. Your eyes twitched as you faced the shrine again, continuing your silent prayer.

You comically felt a sweat drop begin to form as you still feel her gaze burning on you back. Just how long is she gonna just stare...? You sighed as you tossed a coin into the box, ringing the bell one time before clasping your hands again with a bow.

I want to confront her but... With a deep breath, you finally turn around and walk towards the still-smiling lady. Does she have another scheme in her mind again...?

"Penny for your thoughts?" You questioned the woman, who let out a small snort in return.

"Pfft, sure, I'll humor you." She waved her hand dismissively, before letting out a slyer smile than last time. "You've been glancing at me for a while you were praying. Do your wishes have something to do with me?"

You raised a brow, not getting what she meant, "Huh? No, you were just-"

"Where you perhaps praying for something..." She pauses, awaiting your reaction, "...lewd?"

"Huh?!" Your cheeks flared up almost immediately, instantly getting a grasp of what her plan was. How could she think of something so obscene in such a place full of divinity!? "Why would I request for something like that from the gods!?"

"Hmm, true." She nodded, her pink curls moving along, "But can you really blame me for the thought when you were looking at me up and down like I was some kind of meal?

"I was thinking of no such thing...!" Your denial just made her more amused than ever. "You were practically burning holes into my back because of your stare! —And i was getting scared!" You flailed your arms, as if to emphasize your complete denial.

She brings a hand up to her lips, covering her mouth as she laughs heartily. "Pfft, I was just teasing, dear. No need to get so worked up." She trailed her palms onto your own, making you jump at the sudden affection.

"...Miko?"

"Truthfully, I was silently hoping that you actually thought of it." Her eyes were obscured by her bangs, making you unable to tell whether she was being honest or not. Did she just imply that you could do such divine deeds with her whenever?

Instead of getting embarrassed, you sighed as you shook your head lightly, seemingly amused by her change of attitude. She had episodes like these, where you couldn't tell if she was expressing needs or was just plain joking. "Miko, I-"

"I was just teasing, again." She let out a small chuckle as she met your gaze again. Something in her eyes told you that she was lying just now. "Let's eat something, I'm quite hungry from all the walking earlier."

Yae stretched her limbs, before grabbing your hand with a small smile. She was about to drag you down from the shrine's gates, but you held your ground, keeping still on your spot as your mind thought of something.

"Wait, I..."

Her ears perked up as she turned her head with a slightly raised brow.

"I think I'll make another wish." You blurted out, making no room for embarrassment as you walked back to the woodwork of the shrine, leaving Miko quite surprised. She didn't expect you to take her words so seriously.

Ah. She rubbed her cheeks, feeling herself heat up at your implication. You always somehow managed to backfire her advances, she thinks as she tries to calm her temperature down.

By the time you return, her face has already ridden itself of any hint of shyness, and has returned to her usual teasing smirk. "So, what position did you think of?"

"Yae! Miko!"

Ganyu

trope: getting pushed into a kiss under a mistletoe

Who thought this was a good idea?

Your mind speaks for itself as you blink at the trembling girl in front of you, before craning your head up to stare at the very thing that's making her this nervous. A mistletoe. Your eyes squint at the object, finding it quite expensive-looking for an ornament. Is this Ningguang's doing?

"Way to go, Ganyu!" You hear someone cheer in the distance, who immediately gets scolded by Keqing, shushing them to try and make Ganyu more confident.

Even if she does manage to make them stop, the small crowd that formed around both of you still looked quite interested, silently anticipating the kiss shared between both of you.

You shift your eyes back to Ganyu, who's still trembling while being as red as a her small santa hat. Steam flows out of her ears, the embarrassment getting to her head as she stutters out, "I...uhm..."

"We don't have to actually do it, you know?" You try to reassure her, thinking that she probably doesn't want to kiss someone she doesn't have any feelings for.

Oh, how wrong you were.

She's been in love for quite a long time, her being the one who always leaves small notes to remind you of eating and sleeping normally, somehow always having made 'spare bentos' everytime you forget your wallet, who keeps all your work files in a back-up folder just in case you mess up, makes your coffee just right to your liking and even memorized your entire family's names! For future purposes, Ganyu thinks.

Despite all of what she's done, you still haven't acknowledged her as more than a friend! Keqing and Ningguang got annoyed at this fact, finally getting enough of this goose chase by setting you both up at a mistletoe for the office's Christmas party.

She's getting out of hand. You worriedly think as you Ganyu gets more shaky when you try to calm her by patting her back. "G-Ganyu, you really don't have to-"

"...I want to."

"Huh?"

Dumbfounded, you scan her face for any signs of self-obligation, thinking if she's forcing herself for the crowd.

...

There's none. Only newfound determination. You tighten your lips into a thin line, not sure of what to make of her desire to actually get through with the kiss.

"Are you fine with this?" You ask one more time for confirmation.

Her silence greeted you, her mind is still a mess. What if she's actually not the one you like, and you're only willing to kiss her because you pity her? What if her lips are too chappy? What if she tasted like the bitter qingxins she ate a while ago? What if-

Her gaze shoots up, looking at you with wide eyes. She almost missed your question. "Uhm..."

You stare at her for a bit, trying to find a reason for her current hesitance despite her agreement to the kiss earlier. Is it the food we ate? Is it...

A light bulb appears near your head as you think of a possible factor. You lean towards her ear, making her jump at your sudden action.

She feels your breath on her lobe as you whisper, "Do you want it somewhere private...?"

Her face heats up immediately. Though, it seems like it implies something else entirely, it's exactly what you said. She's indeed uncomfortable with the crowd.

Her small nod makes you smile, before you take your hand and gently pull her towards the back door of the building.

You ignore the whistles of the crowd as you close the door behind both of you, stepping out onto the grassy backyard, with the evening moonlight accompanying the tense atmosphere.

"So uh...do we just-"

"Sorry, for causing you so much trouble for today." Her quiet voice seems much louder now without the constant party chatter.

"Trouble? I never viewed it that way."

"B-but! After all of this, you'll probably be teased by them for weeks on end! It would annoy you, wouldn't it?" She clenches her fists by her sides, "I knew I should've stopped Ningguang and Keqing from doing tha-"

Ganyu feels something soft land on her lips, cutting off her words.

You pull away from her face, grabbing her hand with a kind smile, "I wouldn't mind being teased if it's with you. You've already done so much for me. Something like this won't make me hate you."

She doesn't process your words properly as her body stays still, slowly going overdrive from your surprise kiss.

You take a step back when she doesn't react or respond, "Ganyu...?"

The girl in question still doesn't register your call, the only thing on her mind is your sudden kiss, the scene being replayed again, and again, and again, until...

"Ganyu?!"

You watch in horror as you she starts to fall back, her blank eyes closing in delight as you catch her in your arms.

Steam once again comes out of her ears, making you sweatdrop. She wasn't ready after all...

"Sigh...you broke her." Keqing pipes up from bushes, along with Ningguang who was leaning against a tree. "But atleast she finally got what she wanted."

"You both really need to take it easier next time..." You hold her body closer to yours as she snoozes in peace, "You could've just told me so she doesn't have to make a move."

Ningguang laughs at your words, "Now, now where's the fun in that?"

#genshin impact x reader #kazuha x reader #genshin impact imagines #genshin drabbles #xiao x reader #genshin x reader #christmas #ganyu x reader #yae x reader #yae miko x reader #yoimiya x reader #kokomi x reader #genshin impact #scaramouche x reader #gorou x reader #gn!reader #gn reader #fanfiction #ff #merry christmas #christmas prompts #genshin #har❗fiction

[crazycookiecrumbles]

Who Bakes for the Baker?

A/N: Super short, random fluffy drabble during my quick break from editing.

Pairing: Shang-Chi x Reader

Warnings: None! YAY

Summary: Shangqi tries to be surprise you and sort of fails.

About to put your keys into the lock of your apartment door, you stopped when you smelled something coming from the apartment. You weren’t quite sure what it was, it was a toss between…burnt, and sweet? Oh, god, did you leave something on?

You quickly jammed your key in the lock, turned it, and ran inside. You kicked your shoes across the hallway, locked the door behind you, and dropped your bags as you ran over the kitchen. Music was playing, and standing at the counter was Shangqi. He wore your apron, which was now a total mess, and was scratching his head with one hand as the other held your recipe book that held the secrets to all of your baked goods. There was a tray of brownies discarded to the side with a knife sticking out of it, flour all over your counter, his apron, his face, and it looked like he still had chocolate batter at the corner of his mouth.

“What are you doing?”

“Shit!” He dropped the book to the ground, loose leafs of paper falling everywhere as he dropped down to gather it up while you walked towards him. “I just wanted to surprise you.”

You chuckled as you eyed his mess, “What’s the occasion for such a sweet treat?”

“Sweet disaster, really,” He mumbled as he stood up from the floor and turned to face you. He stared at you, watching with pure adoration in his eyes as you reached up with your thumb to wipe the chocolate from his mouth and taste the batter. As you cringed, he explained his ideas, “I just — you kind of came to the rescue after Katy and I dropped her brother’s birthday cake.”

You shrugged a shoulder, “It was nothing.”

“Babe, you baked him a cake after working all day at your bakery.”

“Actually, I stole a cake from my bakery that I had made that day that got cancelled and redecorated it.” You clarified. “So….what, you wanted to get even with the cakes?”

“Well, no, I just — well, first, everyone raved about the cake.”

“As they should.”

He chuckled, “And I just thought, you know, you bake so much, for everyone, like, all of the time. And I thought, well, who bakes for the baker? And I tried baking something for you. Kind of failed.”

“I taste it,” You nodded. “I definitely taste the lovely sentiment and failure.”

He huffed, “You didn’t write eggs in your brownie recipe so I didn’t add them.”

“Well, yeah, but it’s  supposed to be four,” you said easily as you stabbed the brownies. “Oh, babe, these are burnt too.”

“Yeah, don’t touch that. They’re not edible.” He sighed, “I didn’t expect you home so early. I wanted to try to make cookies for you instead. This looks more….well, there’s actually instructions here.”

You laughed, “Sorry. I know I write in hieroglyphics and put ‘shit ton’ or ‘dash’ or ‘hint’ for measurements. Don’t worry. I’ll explain it, and we can do it together.”

Shangqi groaned, “Defeats the purpose of baking for the baker when you’re doing it with me and showing me.”

You scoffed, “Please. It’s still really, really sweet, no pun intended. And I appreciate the thought.” You reached up and cupped his flour-doused face and pressed a soft kiss on his lips. “It’ll be fun, and you can take cookies to work tonight.”

Shangqi sighed dramatically as he took off the apron and placed it over your head and began to tie the straps behind your back, “I suppose I can handle this.”

You grinned, “Okay, my baker in training, where’s the butter?”

His face fell, “Oh shit, I forgot the butter.”

“…That explains a lot.”

#shang chi x reader #shang-chi x reader #shang chi fanfiction #shang chi imagines #shang chi and the legend of the ten rings #shang chi fluff #shang-chi imagine #fic #fluff #one-shot #drabble #random

[ericssmile]

burnt brownies || felix.l

pairing: Lee Felix x reader

warnings: uhh... almost burning the house down? And maybe some swearing? Idk; this was also kind of rushed hence why the ending is shit

genre: fluff... just a giant amount of fluff.

author: @ericssmile

word count: 2.5k

A/N: I had something else written like... halfway through this bUT GOOGLE FUCKING DOCS CRASHED AND NEVER SAVED THE DAMN THING! So if its shit and doesn't make sense... thats why. Also HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY FELIX!!

༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞

“Dude I don’t think these measurements are right..” Chris turns to you with concern on his face, nervous laughter passing though his lips.

You laugh quietly and walk over to him. You noticed the big silver bowl that's usually used by Stray Kid’s resident baker, Felix -your boyfriend- filled with what's supposed to be a brownie batter. But in all honesty, it just looks like someone who’s lactose intolerant had literally spewed from their rear into the bowl. It was so runny.

“Oh my god Chan.” You chuckle, taking the measuring cups out of the elders hand and putting it into the bag of flour. “Whenever something doesn’t look right, if it's too dry, add more liquid. But if it’s too runny, like this batter,” You take your hand out of the flour bag, evening it out onto the cup, making sure it was the right amount and plop it into the bowl. “Just add more dry mixture to it.” You point to the bowl. “Try it now.”

Chan nods his head and starts mixing the brownie batter, a smile on his face as he notices the drastic change. It was no longer a runny mess! “It worked!” Chan exclaimed with excitement. You couldn’t help but laugh at his reaction.

Once the mixture had looked smooth enough, you and Chan had placed it into a baking tray, making sure that the baking paper was on properly beforehand. You scraped the bowl of an excess mixture and spread it evenly in the tray. The temptation to lick the spatula of the sweet, delicious mixture was very hard to ignore, but somehow you managed.

It felt weird baking with someone who wasn’t Felix. To you, it was a domestic activity that the two of you enjoyed, making memories and just having fun with it. But, since it was his birthday, you wanted to surprise him by making him his favourite treat. Putting every ounce of love that you had for that precious boy into it. And Chan was there to help of course.

“How long do we put it in the oven for?” Chan asked.

You pursed your lips and scrunched your eyebrows in thought. “I'm pretty sure it's roughly around 20 to 25 minutes.” You watch as Chan set the timer on the oven, hearing a faint ticking sound once done. “We’ll just make sure to keep an eye on it every now and then, just to be sure.” Chan nods.

It was early in the morning, and the day before had been Jisung’s birthday. Every year that Felix and Jisung had known each other, they always headed up to the top of the building and sat and watched the stars, just sharing the moment between one another. And once the clock strikes midnight on the 15th of September, Jisung and Felix hi-five one another and Jisung says “Birthday Pass.” Felix would always talk to you about it. Told you how pretty the stars were.

You always tried to be cheesy with him when he says that. Saying how the stars were pretty, but he was more beautiful than any star in the night sky. He denies it every time, but you promise him that you’re telling nothing but the truth. And it is true. He’s the most beautiful boy that you have ever met. He had eyes that held the entire galaxy in them and sparkled each and every time he talked about something that he had so much passion for; he had a smile that always brightens up the room whenever he walks into it; and his freckles. His freckles that you just love to admire and tell him everyday just how much you love them on him.

“Did you write that letter for him?” The sound of Chan’s voice brought you back to reality. It took you a second to realise what he asked but soon nodded your head at his question.

“Of course I did.” You smile bashfully. “It’s there on the table if you want to read it.” Chan smiles back, but shakes his head at your offer.

“I’m sure Lix will show me after. I want him to read it first.” You nod your head at his response, and soon yawn. Man, who would’ve thought baking could take so much energy out of you.

“Wake me when the brownies are done.”

********

The sound of the smoke alarm going off startled you awake from your power nap, almost falling off of the couch. Your heart was pounding. The kitchen was on the verge of being swarmed in smoke. “Fuck!” You cried out, running into the kitchen and towards the oven. You find the oven mits, opening the oven, your face instantly being met with too much smoke and on the verge of having a coughing fit.. “God dammit Christopher.”

You close the oven door and rip off the oven mits as soon as you place the tray down on the bench. And just as you thought. The brownies were burnt to a crisp. A sad sigh escaped past your lips. The one time you bake with someone else and it all goes to shit. Reminder to self: never bake with Chan. Ever. Again.

The sound of feet stomping filled your ears, hearing it getting louder and louder and then.. It stopped. A gasp came from the foot stomper at the sight of the smoke -that was now clearing away little by little- “The brownies! Y/N I'm sorry! I forgot!” The voice shrieked as he got closer to the now charcoaled brownies and sighed sadly. “I take full responsibility for this.” Chan says, placing his hands on his hips. “I was on my computer doing some stuff and had my headphones on.”

“It’s alright. At least we tried.” You laugh, placing a comforting hand on Chan’s shoulder.

“The hell happened here?” The sound of Felix’s voice caught you by surprise. And here you had hoped to hide the burnt brownies in time. You nervously laugh, running your hand through your hair as you try to come up with an excuse as to why the kitchen smells burnt.

Just as you come up with an excuse, Chan beats you to it. “Y/N and I wanted to surprise you with birthday brownies but uh,” he chuckles “they kinda got burnt.”

“I can see that.” Felix laughs, walking into the kitchen to get a look at the brownies just to see how burnt they were. You watched him closely. And once he got a look at the brownies, his eyes widened in shock. “Jesus, you weren’t kidding.”

“Never again am I baking.” Chan exclaims, holding his hands in the air in a surrendering motion. It was probably for the best that he stays away from anything baking. He’s good at making music. He should stick to that instead.

You sigh and walk up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder and pat it in a joking manner. “You should really just stick to your day… or night job-whatever it is, just stick to music.” You bellow out a laugh as he glares at you and playfully brushes your hand off of his shoulder.

“If you’re done bullying me, I’m going to go back and finish doing what I was doing before I let the kitchen almost set on fire.” he huffs, walking out of the kitchen, soon smiling as he wishes Felix a happy birthday. Felix gives him a hug and thanks him, soon turning his full, undivided attention on to you. And the way he's looking at you is giving you all these butterflies, reminding you back when he first asked you out on a date. His smile is as bright as the sun, being the literal definition of sunshine.

He slowly walks towards you with that damn smile on his face, feeling your own smile automatically make its way onto your face. The feeling of him wrapping his arms around your waist makes you feel warm and safe. The feeling of being home.

Wrapping your arms lightly around his neck, you lean up and place a gentle kiss on his cheek where his freckles were. He giggles softly, bringing a finger to your nose and boops you.

“I was hoping to give you brownies for once on your birthday.” You pout as you run your fingers through his hair at the nape of his neck. He just smiles and places a gentle kiss on your nose, this thumbs rubbing small circles on your hip; it was his way of saying he appreciated the thought.

“It’s alright beautiful. It’s the thought that counts right?’ He shrugs, fingers poking your side slightly.

You smile and nod your head. And in that moment, it felt like it was just you two. No one else. No one to intervene. Nothing to get in the way. Just you two in each others arms.

You let out a slight gasp, remembering the letter that you had written for him. He was surprised at the sound, and had to reluctantly let you out of his grasp so you could head towards the table where the said letter laid. You picked it up and smiled nervously, heading back to the birthday boy. Once in front of him, you held out your hands towards him, waiting for him to take the letter from your grasp.

He tilts his head to the side like a cute puppy, but smiles as he gladly takes the envelope from your hands. You watched as he looked down at his name, written in fine, black ink in your handwriting that he loved dearly. He traced his finger over each letter gently, embedding how you write his name into his head so he can cherish it forever.

“It’s uh, not much, but i hope you love it.” You had poured your heart out into that letter. Letting out every raw emotion that you felt towards him and how he makes you feel. How much you cherish him.

“If it’s from you, of course I’m going to love it.” He smiles as he makes his way towards the couch with you following behind him. He sat down first with a content sigh. You sat across from him, anxiously waiting for him to open the letter.

He smiles as he turns the envelope over, taking the letter out slowly so that he doesn’t ruin it somehow. Your fingers were playing with the hem of your sweater, teeth nibbling on your lip every now and then, anticipating how Felix will feel after he reads that letter.

He clears his throat as he unfolds the paper and reads:

“To my bright sunshine,

My Felix. My Yongbok. Oh how I am so thankful for this day, as it is the day where we celebrate the life of you. September 15th is my favourite day, all because you were born. I thank God everyday for the fact that he’s brought you into my life. Because without you, it wouldn't be as bright.

I look forward to every morning, waking up to see your usual “Good morning my starlight” text messages. But seeing you in person is even better because i get to stare at your beautiful face all day and admire you up close.

I hope you know how much I love and appreciate you. You always know how to make me smile; my shoulder to cry on when I need to vent; my safe haven. I love that smile of yours that always brightens up every room that you walk into. You are quite literally my own personal sunshine. Always brightening up my days and motivating me to get out and do something, even if it's just for a few minutes or so. I love how much emotion your eyes show; to me they hold the entire galaxy in them. No star in the sky could compare to how beautiful those brown beauties of yours are. You are my everything and I can’t believe I get the chance to call you mine. I love everything about you, from your freckles to your tiny hands,”

“Hey!” he pouts but soon smiles after hearing you giggle.

“I’m sorry! Just keep reading please!”

He shakes his head, and huffs as he continues to read:

“I love how selfless you are; making sure to check in on me and your members. And your brownies. Don’t ever stop making those delicious, gooey treats. Your friends and I, we really do appreciate all that you do for us. When it comes to your down days, all i want to do is cover you in a blanket and cuddle you until you feel better. Seeing you sad and upset makes me sad and upset. Because you deserve all the good in the world Lix. You are one of a kind.

And Stay. Your beautiful fans. They love you so much. I can tell how much you love and appreciate them, just as much as they do for you too. I’m sure they’d be on the same boat as me when I say that no matter what you do or where you go in life, I’m always going to be right there beside you, cheering you on. Cause all I want for you is to be happy.

I love you Felix. And I will love you until the very end.

With love,

Your Starlight.”

You hear him sniffle causing you to move closer to him, bringing your thumb to his cheek and wiping away his tears. He nestles his cheek into your hand, bringing his free one that wasn’t holding onto the letter to hold onto your hand.

For the first few minutes, the two of you had sat in silence. Felix read over the letter every now and again, a soft, adoring smile on his face. God how he loved you. You were absolutely everything to him. To him, you were his guardian angel. Always there for him when he needs you most. He would drop whatever he was doing just to be by your side just like you would for him.

Bringing your hand to his lips, he places a soft kiss along your knuckles. His eyes were closed, but you knew that he was just savoring the moment. “Thank you for your beautiful words.” he whispers, opening his eyes to stare into yours. “I am going to cherish this, just like how I cherish you.” You smile at his words, leaning in to kiss his lips. You could feel him smile into the kiss as he wraps his arms around you, bringing you onto his lap just so that he could hold you close to him. Breaking away from the kiss, you lean your forehead against his, bringing a finger to his nose and booping him just like he did to you earlier.

Sometimes you don’t need extravagant gifts on your birthday. Just having someone that you love dearly is just as much a precious gift as anything. Even if they do almost burn the kitchen down making you a sweet for your birthday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

© ericssmile, 2021; please do not take or repost

#stray kids #felix #lee felix #felix lee #lee yongbok #stray kids x reader #felix x reader #lee felix x reader #felix lee x reader #lee yongbok x reader #stray kids fluff #felix fluff #lee felix fluff #felix lee fluff #lee yongbok fluff #happy birthday felix!! #|my work| #skz #skz x reader #skz felix #skz yongbok #skz fluff

[cookbook-of-boba-fett]

Golden Beskar Cakes

[Recipe at bottom]

They told me I have to “write a little something” about the food. That’s probably easier than writing about myself. I don’t know why food needs further explanation, it’s just food. We all gotta eat it. Some of it’s shit. Some of it’s poisoned. Learned that one the hard way. Have you ever starved? Flavor doesn’t matter then. You start to eat the same shit over and over, though, and without flavor, you’re back to that same hollow, starving feeling again. Animals, they don’t know where their next meal is. They couldn’t care less about spices or technique or flavor. Some sentients don’t give a fuck about that shit either. I once met a monk who ate nothing but thin, tasteless protein soup for three years, funniest guy I ever met. He said his flavor came from the soul, and that the universe kept him full.

Is this the kind of shit you want?

(Editor’s note: Yes.)

Anyway, I spent a few years like that. Starving but not really. Had to talk to myself just to make any sense of things. My business associate here on Tatooine (E/N: Presumably, the revenant mercenary, Fennec Shand) said I was entertaining while I cooked. My father always talked while he cooked, said it helped him relax and take time to slow down, see if he forgot anything in the recipe. I’m not gonna lie and tell you my earliest memory of him is sitting on his hip while he worked on a pot of food, because I wasn’t allowed in the kitchen until I could kill a man thirty different ways.

(E/N: We think he’s joking. We hope he’s joking.)

So I let her talk me into this nonsense. She claims to like my cooking, which isn’t a very high bar to pass. Then again, her guts are made of durasteel, and I think the experimental spotchka we found in the cellar burned out her tastebuds. My instincts about her haven’t failed yet.

Enough about her. Her ego’s big enough for us both.

The editors have told me that I shouldn’t start too big or too small for my first recipe, which makes no fucking sense. (E/N: It makes sense, Mr. Fett just keeps deleting the helpful suggestions we send him.) Someone else I know suggested I make whatever I’d make if I had company coming over for the first time. Normally, if someone was coming over unannounced and forced me into a position where I had to cook, I’d serve them a generous helping of plasma bolts (E/N: Murder. He means murder.) but I tried to picture this person coming over for the first time. They’re someone I kind of want to make a good impression on. Real honorable kind of person.

So I’m making golden beskar cakes.

Beskar is obviously not gold. But the cakes look like little ingots, and are probably one of the easier things to make if you want to impress someone for the first time. You have to get their expectations up high enough that you can coast on their good graces for awhile without doing anything actually impressive. I’ve been told this isn’t a good mentality for housewarming, but it’s my house, I’ll burn it down the way I want to.

Browning butter seems intimidating. I recommend, if you’re the anxious type, just trying to brown butter a few times before actually incorporating it into any recipes. But it’s your kitchen, your kitchen fire. It’s up to you what it smells like. Keeping the butter moving in the pan makes it easier to see the progress on the browning. This is one thing you can probably do while shooting the shit with this hypothetical person you want to impress, as it’ll make the kitchen smell like you’re doing something right, even if it’s just watching butter melt.

When you’re combining the egg whites and the sugar, don’t (E/N: Mr. Fett doesn’t want you to worry. The phrasing he used in his initial draft isn’t quite appropriate for public blog posts.) because we’re not making anything technically fancy. Just whisk until the sugar’s dissolved.

Remember: when you add the flours, make sure you tell your hypothetical guest how the nuts are local and sustainably farmed, because that’s what the editors want you to tell them. But this guest knows the galaxy, alright. He knows you shipped in the koja nuts, because next to nothing delicious grows on Tatooine. If you can get away with fooling them, by all means, dig your grave as you see fit.

Actually putting the batter into the molds can be fucking tricky, to put it lightly. This batter is drippy as (E/N: Really, really drippy.) If you’re using the fancy molds, you want to hide this process from your guest to prevent any embarrassment. Send them out of the room if you can. If it’s going in a regular flat dish, whatever. But your fruit is going to look weird. And I’m already strange-looking enough for the both of us.

At this point, this is the best time for the conversation to get awkward. Because you’re going to be doing a lot of knifework, and you want your guest to know you have a knife, and not to make the situation any more awkward than it was before you had the knife. Keep an eye on your knife while fruiting the cakes. You only really need a little bit of fruit, so feel free to offer the rest to your guest on the knife’s edge after.

It’s sexy.

(E/N: Please don’t serve fruit on knives. Use a fork.)

On the note of fruit: literally any fruit you have on hand works for this. I prefer peaches and berries. If there’s a fruit your guest likes a lot, use that. If you don’t know what kind of fruit they like, and start to panic, shoot them. It solves one problem while creating another, which is a specialty I’ve perfected over the years.

-BF

Golden Beskar Cakes

For 12 small cakes:

3 medium egg whites

½ cup white sugar

Man’s pinch of salt (E/N: We think 1) he means ⅛ teaspoon and 2) he just made that up)

Half-second pour of vanilla extract (E/N: ¼ tsp)

½ cup koja nut meal (E/N: Almond flour seems to be fine for this)

3 tablespoons flour

¾ stick unsalted butter*

12 small slices of fruit

*DO NOT USE BANTHA BUTTER. WE WANT GOLDEN CAKES NOT GREEN CAKES.

Brown butter in a pan, until it’s a golden-brown. Leave to cool for about ten minutes.

While butter cools, whisk egg whites and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Then, add salt, vanilla, and both flours, mix well.

Add cooled brown butter to mix.

Butter the dish you intend to bake in (rectangular molds are popular) and add batter evenly, to about 90% full.

Bake for 5 minutes at 400 degrees (E/N: It seems Tatooine uses Fahrenheit scale, so 204 Celsius) then top with fruit. Feel free to jam the fruit in a little bit, but not too far. The fruit is a garnish.

Continue baking until browned, about 10-12 minutes.

Serve with cold milk and good conversation.

Editor’s note: While we don’t have the exact ingredients that Mr. Fett uses (or a picture of any part of this process, sigh), we think that this recipe is most similar to what he’s making.

#golden beskar cakes #baking #boba's recipes

[ladydimitrescuspet]

A Failed Experience

AO3 link; word challenge: sugar 

"Listen up, we're going to make a cake for Alcina." You said out loud to Alcina's daughters and her brother, Heisenberg. "Victoria, Elise, and I need to go get eggs, food colouring, and vanilla. I need you and Heisenberg to wash some dishes and put the dry ingredients together, I'm sure your Mother has a recipe around here somewhere so find it and follow it. Can you do that?" You asked looking between Daniela and Heisenberg.

Daniela crossed her arms. "Of course we can do that for you, human. After all, we've occupied this castle longer than you've roamed this planet." Daniela replied.

"What Daniela means to say is that we will have everything ready for you when you get back with those other ingredients." Heisenberg said. Daniela hissed at him.

You sighed. "Okay, thank you. We'll be back shortly. Please try not to make too much of a mess or be too loud. I want this to be a surprise for Alcina." You said before you, Elise, and Victoria made a quick beeline for the front door.

"Who does she think she is? Telling us what to do." Daniela said. She was a bit angry.

Heisenberg squinted his eyes at Daniela as he started getting dishes out. "Well, Y/N is married to your mother which makes her your stepmother, Dani. I don't think she's trying to tell us what to do, just trying to make sure that we all feel involved in the process of doing something nice for Alcina." Heisenberg replied.

Daniela rolled her eyes before growling a bit. "I wasn't exactly looking for a reply to that, Uncle Heis. It's one of those rhetorical questions that Mother's human is always trying to explain to us." Daniela said. "Nevermind that, do you know where Mother keeps her recipe box?" Daniela asked opening up cabinets.

Heisenberg scratched his head. "Am I supposed to answer that or is it another rhetorical question?" He asked which resulting in Daniela punching him in the arm. "Ow! Hey now, I was just asking! You hit almost as hard as Alcina does." Heisenberg rubbed his arms. "It's in the cabinet above the sink."

Daniela reached over Heisenberg to open the cabinet and retrieve the recipe box. She flipped through it until she found the recipe she was looking for. "Here it is. Mother's infamous blood-red red velvet cake. Just wait until Y/N looks at what the recipe calls for, she'll flip out and want to just keep it at a regular chocolate cake." Daniela snorted with laughter at the thought.

Heisenberg snatched the recipe card from her hand. "She'll have no problem with it because we're going to ignore that part and add in red food colouring since Y/N is a human and wouldn't do well with blood in her food, let alone her dessert." Heisenberg said. "Now get the flour, baking soda, sugar, salt, and cocoa powder. We need a big bowl, I'll have to wash one." Heisenberg said.

Daniela went and got all the dry ingredients that they needed for the cake. "Where should I put the flo-" Daniela didn't get the rest of the question out as she slipped on a puddle of water causing her to get flour all over her and bringing Heisenberg down with her. She had tried to grab onto him but that didn't help and he ended up soaking wet. The commotion caused Alcina to run into the kitchen.

"What in the name of Mother Miranda is going on in here?" Alcina asked as looked between her soaking wet brother and her flour covered daughter. The two looked at each other before Heisenberg opened his mouth to speak, Alcina beat him to words first. "Please, forget that I asked. Just clean this horrible mess up before the servants arrive to prepare dinner." Alcina said before walking out of the kitchen.

Daniela and Heisenberg looked at each other again before bursting into laughter. "The look on Mother's face when she saw what we'd done, oh, we're definitely in for it at dinner, Uncle Heis!" Daniela exclaimed anguishly, but she was still laughing over the incident. They cleaned themselves up as best as they could. You arrived back home with Victoria and Elise a little while later. "There you three are! Y/N, I know you wanted to make two cakes, but something happened and now there's only enough for one." Daniela informed.

You looked at Daniela who looked like she'd been rolling in flour. "Unh-huh, I wonder why." You mumbled to yourself. "Don't worry, it's fine, one cake'll be fine. Do you have the recipe?" You asked. Daniela nodded her head and handed it to you with a grin. Before you could read it, Victoria took it from your hands.

"Why don't we finish making the cake? I'm sure Mother would enjoy your company. Besides, she'll get rather suspicious if she's not seen you around." Victoria said.

Elise nodded her head. "You know how Mother gets when she can find you for your check ups!" Elise said. "Don't worry, we'll let you frost the cake and everything." Elise added.

You nodded your head and went towards the kitchen door. "You'll be fine without me, right?" All four of them nodded and you sighed before heading off to find Alcina. You spent the next few hours sitting in Alcina's office bored out of your mind. You'd practically read the few books she had in there a million and one times, but she wouldn't allow you to go to the library to get more. She said that it was being renovated so you weren't allowed in there until it was done.

"Dear," Alcina said. You looked up at her. "Could you go to the kitchen? Heisenberg and Daniela were in the earlier causing mayhem, I'd like you to check and see if it's been put back into proper condition for the servants. I wouldn't want my brother and daughter's foolishness to result in us having a late dinner." You simply nodded your head and slipped out of her office to head to the kitchen.

"Hey, is the cake done?" You asked as you entered the kitchen. All four of them turned to look at you and you frowned. "What? Did the cake not work?" You asked.

Heisenberg made a face, but it was Victoria who spoke. "It tastes funny, like it's missing something. We only took a sliver of the cake, come try it." Victoria said and you walked over to them. You put a small piece in your mouth and immediately spit it out. "See? I told you, it tastes funny."

"Yeah, it does. It tastes like there's no sugar in it." You said. They all stared at you. "You did put sugar in it, right?" You asked.

Daniela smiled sheepishly. "Oops, I forgot!" Daniela replied.

Elise hit her palm to her forehead. "Dani, I told you five times to add in the sugar and you promised that you would!" Elise said.

"It's not the end of the world. We can just make a new one." Daniela said.

You shook your head. "Not tonight, maybe later this week. We need to clean the kitchen up before Alcina comes down here to ask me why it's taking so long for me to see if the kitchen is cleaned up of Heisenberg and Daniela's foolishness." Daniela squinted her eyes at you causing you to raise your hands. "Her words not mine, promise!" You added quickly.

"Alright, alright. Let's not cause any more unnecessary messes." Heisenberg said as he directed Daniela away from you. "I say we have less than five minutes before mommy dearest makes her way down here so let's get to it, wouldn't want any of us to get into any trouble. And Daniela, do something with this horrendous cake." Heisenberg said, gesturing to the cake on the counter.

Daniela just waved him off. "I'll leave it for the servant. Sugar or no sugar, they'll be grateful for the treat. Besides this is the longest we've ever had any servants so consider it a reward." Daniela replied as she got back to cleaning up.

You'd never tell Daniela that, but no matter how downright despicable Daniela could be, she could also be as sweet as, well, sugar. The comparison made you smile to yourself. Alcina was going to be quite impressed at her daughter's gesture when you tell her before bed, but you also know that she won't be too surprised by it since she knows how kind Daniela can be. The kindness that the Dimitrescu's possess will always fascinate you, it's not something that is often seen towards the servants or the villagers, but when it's done, it's such a beautiful sight and one that you will never take for granted.

#lady dimitrescu #alcina dimitrescu #daniela dimitrescu #lady dimitrescu's daughters #heisenberg #resident evil #resident evil 8 #resident evil village #lady dimitrescu x reader

[readerinsertfanfiction]

Hitch in the road

Fandom: The Arcana

Character: Julian Devorak

Prompt: Julian being Julian but he is trying to celebrate @venulus​ birthday! Or at least, I’m. Happy birthday! 

Warnings: Mentions of food

Word count: -1k

Masterlist

Julian's intentions were in the right place often, but it was his luck, or perhaps a lack of skill even, that often left out the desired results. So this was the case in the following story. His intention was good, but the result was an absolute disaster.

"How the hell did you manage that?" Portia had questioned, a brow rising on that homely face who was anything but unimpressed. It had been only his first attempt, so his sister could have gone a little nicer about it. A first ever even, though Julian did admit that it was perhaps for the best not to mention this try, ever. There still was no need to pretend that he was an entirely hopeless case, however!

"Just a little hitch in the road. Gotta allow some failures to reach perfection, right?"

But Portia had dubiously stared at her brother as she put a hand on her hip, not even bothering to give the man some tips on improvement.

His second attempt was a little… burnt. "At least it holds shape, I guess," his sister had reviewed this time. Though Portia had looked so offended when Julian brought his second attempt in to show that the doctor decided that perhaps he shouldn't describe this one either.

"Just another bump!" he exclaimed and Portia rolled her eyes this time not even sparing her brother a few sassy words. That stung more than any review she could give.

In the end he had finally figured that he did need flour, he couldn't rely only on sugar and that he needed less heat. Julian supposed that looking at the recipe Portia had handed him in the beginning was a smart idea after all. Baking was, after all, not as intuitive as he had imagined it to be. Nor did he seem to possess said intuition.

"I'm not tasting this." The finality in Portia's voice when Julian brought forth the umpteenth cake made the older sibling nearly crawl away. He knew he wasn't getting any closer to the desired result, but the day was reaching its end and he still had nothing, nothing aside from the failed attempts that his sister even refused to classify as anything related to food.

"Maybe I should go for a no-bake version?" he tried but the fierce glare from his sister shut him up real quick. "Right. Flour and eggs," he repeated the notes from his last no-bake attempt, which Portia had described as an attempt on her life when she found out.  

"What if…"

The tell tale sign of Portia's hand on her hip and a long dreadful sign interrupted Julian, "no, you can't go without flour and eggs. Anyone else could, but you can't."

How very discouraging, but Julian wasn't a Devorak if he wasn't stubborn and didn't like to explore boundaries.

"I'm here!" the ring of your voice startled the man who was still in the process of getting everything ready, earning a spill over his fingers when he was trying to pour everything into the container.

"Here!" Julian called from the kitchen, glad for Portia's absence right now, but devastated at the look of the kitchen, "or rather, stay there! I will come for you!" the man quickly corrected himself. After all, the ruined cakes numbered 1 to 12 were all on display still, with number 13 in his hands.

And on his clothes. And… all over the place and his face and…

"Uuuuh, actually…" Julian threw the container on the counter, spilling half its contents before he slammed the door to his kitchen shut, "be a dear and make yourself at home in my… living room?" the man asked and from the other side he could hear you chuckle.

"Uhuh, and you will hide in the kitchen?" you tease and Julian chews his lips as he tries to think of an answer to that without ruining the night.

"Portia told me," you fill in the silence and Julian curses his sister for ratting him out as he feels you tug at the door handle, finally relenting as he opens up the space and steps back into the disaster he had left in his wake in an attempt to surprise you. And surprised you most certainly were.

An awkward rumble escapes Julian who spreads out his arms, gesturing over to the counter on which attempts one to twelve are on display and at attempt thirteen still in the sink and all over him.

"Tried another no-bake, what's your binder?" you ask him and Julian internally groans when he realises that he forgot that you were a baker as well.

"Binder. Right. Uhm," struggling to remember if he had put any in it as well his lips curled up into that characteristic smile of his.

"Well, that would be my love for you," he smoothly adds and he knows that the roll of your eyes is a response out of love, as you can't suppress the smile on your face, your head shaking as you pull the man by the only part of his sleeve that is still clean.

"That's not a binder, but nevermind. We should get you cleaned up and go out for some dinner and cake. I'm not helping you clean this mess."

Julian smiles wider at that, though the prospect of having to clean up his kitchen alone isn't a pleasant one. Nonetheless the man pulls at you, an arm wrapping around you as he nuzzles your cheek.

"Then how about unwrapping me as a birthday present?" he coyly asks before realising that he is still covered in raw batter as much as he is covered in dry and hardened batter as well as flour that he is smudging all over you.

Before a look of guilt can set on his face you have already smacked him on the chest, dragging the both of you off for a much needed wash.

Perhaps there was a perfection in his failures after all.

#the arcana julian #julian devorak #julian devorak x reader #the arcana julian x reader #the arcana #the arcana ilya

[procrastinatingsapphictrash]

Cooking class

Word count: 2109     

Genre: Fluff

Pairing: Natasha x gn!reader

Warnings: Very minor injury (let me know if I need to add more)

Request: Hey! I saw your post for a request and this idea popped into my head. Y/n is a fantastic cook, they can do everything right and make great food all the time, while Natasha usually sets towels on fire when they try. Y/n suggests that Natasha enrolls in a cooking class, and does it with them so Natasha doesn't feel so bad. Y/n ends up rewarding Natasha with little kisses and 'good job!'s for the things they do well in class, and eating bits and pieces of the foods they mess up to prove that it's still edible and they're learning

Summary: Natasha is a horrible cook so reader takes Natasha to a cooking class.

A/n: So this was an anon request so I hope whoever requested this likes it! Also this is the second fic in two days which may not seem like a big deal but I actually feel productive for once. Anyways I hope everyone enjoys and I hope to finish some of my other requests soon in case anyone is wondering, and I’m always open for new requests. 

Natasha let out a frustrated sound so you looked over, trying not to laugh at your girlfriend but failing spectacularly. 

“It’s not funny.” She whines looking over at you with an annoyed expression.

“Sorry love,” you respond, “keep going I promise not to interrupt again.” She narrows her eyes at you but turns back to her task. She’s preparing some pizza dough that she is going to use later on in the class and honestly you never thought someone could mess up on pizza dough that much. There is dough literally everywhere, the sink, counters, floor and even her face. The most funny thing however is how she is completely covered in flour from when she opened the bag wrong and it flew into her face. Surprisingly she agreed easily when you had suggested the idea, because she wanted to help out in the kitchens sometimes but she was banned from everything but the toaster for a reason the avengers called the pie incident but refused to speak further on when asked. 

You glance back over at her to see how it’s going and although everything still is a mess it seems like she has managed to combine all the ingredients properly into a ball and is now kneading it. You step towards her and give her a hug from behind, not caring that flour was now getting all over you as well. 

“Good job Tasha,” you whisper in her ear. You pull back and when you look at her face you see a slight hint of a blush. She rarely blushes but you always find it so cute when she does so you decide to make it your personal mission to get her to blush as much as possible today. She is just setting aside the dough to rise when the instructor speaks again. 

“I see that most of you have already finished, or are just finishing up with your dough and setting it aside. From what I can tell it looks like everybody is doing well so far, however before we can continue everybody should make sure their workstation is clear.” As he says the last part he seems to look mostly at your workstation as well as the one diagonally in front of you, which are by far the two most messy. 

Natasha starts clearing up the station while you brush as much flour as you can off of your clothes and wash your hands. As she continues to clear you grab a wet cloth and gently wipe down her face and arms to get rid of all the dough and flour. It takes awhile for the both of you and your workstation to be clear and once it is you realize everybody else is finished and waiting for you. 

“Ok now that everybody is done,” this time he obviously glances your way, “we are going to prepare some of the toppings for later. This part shouldn’t be hard so just follow along with the recipe and ask for help if you need it.” Natasha picks up the recipe and you read over her shoulder. 

“How about I help you with the topping but you do most of it?” You ask her. “We’ll both help cut up the peaches and make the balsamic sauce. This class is meant to be teaching you and not me after all.”

“Sounds good,” she replies while taking a peach and placing it on the cutting board. She starts to chop but she keeps slicing way too thick at the top and way too thin at the bottom. You giggle slightly and she narrows her eyes at you scowling and puts down the knife.

“I’m not laughing at you Nat, I promise.” You explain. “Well I am but can you blame me? You are a crazy good assassin that probably can kill me easily with that knife in many different ways yet you can’t cut a peach properly.”

“I still don’t see how that is funny.” She huffs but with a hint of a smile. 

“I’m sorry, here let me help you.” You grab her hands and guide them into making steady cuts. When the first peach is fully cut up you step back again. 

“Why don’t you try to do the next one on your own?” You suggest. She nods and starts to cut seeming a little unsure of herself. While it’s not perfect it’s much better than the first time so when she finishes you let out a small cheer and kiss her on the cheek. She gives a hesitant smile which you’ve learned means she feels good about herself but doesn’t know how to express it properly. You cut the rest of the peaches in silence, her slices gradually getting better. 

“You’ve already improved so much!” You praise her, your heart melting when you see her smile and blush. “Why don’t you try the next part on your own?”

“Ok,” she answers, “I think I can do this part.” She starts mixing a few of the ingredients for the balsamic glaze and you, thinking she had it under control, start to glance around because you want to see how the others in the class are doing. 

“Eeekk!” You hear Natasha squeal so you quickly look back over at her. The glaze is splashed all over the front of her and splattered all over the counter. 

“What happened?” You ask, this time managing to only laugh inwardly as to not offend her.

“I thought if I mixed it as fast as I could the ingredients would combine faster,” she states, “but then this happened.” 

You fight hard to keep your straight face, “Tasha, love, that’s not how cooking works.” 

“Well I know that now.” She responds in an annoyed tone. 

“I know and it’s okay, you can just redo it while I clean this up, does that sound good?” She nods and starts finding the ingredients she needs again while you take some paper towel and clear up the counter. Unfortunately you can’t do anything about the mess on Natasha’s shirt but luckily she purposefully wore a shirt she didn’t mind getting messy. 

“Everybody should be just about done by now,” the instructor says, gathering the attention of the class, “Right now I want you to put flour on your counters and start to split your dough up to make the flat breads. Then you can put some topping on and pop them in the oven, make sure not to burn them.” The rest of the class immediately gets to work but before you or Natasha can start the instructor comes up to you.

“I’m sorry to bother you but I’ve noticed that you’ve been having some trouble, so don’t be afraid to ask for any help,” he says, “it is my job.” Natasha is obviously not pleased by what he said and scowls at him, opening her mouth to speak.

“Thank you, we will.” You say quickly before Natasha says something rude. He nods and turns away to go back to the front. 

“I wasn’t doing that badly.” Natasha states. 

“Don’t worry about it, let’s move onto the next step, why don’t you preheat the oven?” You respond to her, avoiding her statement because she really was doing ‘that badly’. She grabs the flour and opens it, this time making sure that she doesn’t get it all over, and then starts to put it on the counter. Meanwhile you get the dough and split it up into two pieces, one pizza for each of you. 

“I’m going to be bad at this part.” She says with a small frown.

“No, no, no, don’t say that Tasha,” you rush to encourage her, “this part is the best part because it’s so fun, and it’s impossible to mess up!” 

“If you say she.” She says doubtfully and you laugh. Both of you get to work, at first just playing with the dough in your hands to get a feel for it and after that using a rolling pin to flatten the dough. When you’re finished you take a step back to admire your work.

“Huh, it doesn’t look that bad.” Natasha decides. 

“It looks amazing, I knew you could do it Tasha!” You exclaim while hugging her side and pressing a few quick, light kisses to the side of her neck. 

“I mean it’s not a huge deal.” She blushes. 

“Still, it’s pretty good,” you tell her, “but now we need to focus on putting our topping on.”

She giggles. “You say that like it’s something that requires a lot of thought.”

You gasp dramatically. “Ms. Romanoff, the presentation is the most important part of the dish, it requires a lot of attention to detail.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know how I forgot!” She plays along. “Why would the actual cooking part matter when you can focus on making them look good?”

“Exactly.” You tell her before both of you get to work, putting all the topping on the flatbread.

As much as you joked about it you tried to make yours look as good as possible and when you were done although it didn’t look perfect you were satisfied with how it looked. At least until you glanced over to see how Natasha did. 

“How did you manage to make yours look like it should be in a cookbook?” You ask her, truly amazed by how pleasing it looks and not even knowing how she can make something as average as topping look like art. She just blushes and shrugs, pleased with herself but not wanting to admit it out loud. 

“Anyways we should probably get them in the oven now because it looks like others are starting to.” You tell her.

“Of course, I’ll put them in!” She replies quickly, transferring the flatbreads onto two trays and shoving them in the oven. You lean over after she shuts the door and set the timer but when you look back at her and smile, you see she is standing by the sink with the water running over her hand. 

“Tasha are you ok?” You ask, immediately rushing over to her.

“Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just a small burn.” You examine her hand and it doesn’t look as small as most burns people get from cooking but then again Natasha gets injured all the time so this probably isn’t a big deal to her. 

“Ok, but just make sure to take care of it.”

“I will don’t worry, I swear I’m the only one on the team who actually knows how to take care of themself sometimes. Remember the time Tony forgot to eat and collapsed?” You laugh at what she said. Although in the moment it was scary, in hindsight it was a funny story to tell. 

The two of you keep bringing up old avengers moments and exchanging mission stories until you hear the timer beep. Everybody seems to have put their flatbreads in at the same time because there must be at least ten timers going off and it’s so loud you can’t even think. Luckily Natasha doesn’t seem to have the same problem because she grabs oven mitts this time so she doesn’t burn herself again and pulls the flatbreads out of the oven.

Her face falls when she sees them. The one on the top shelf, although somewhat crispy looking, seems fine but the one on the bottom shelf is practically black on the bottom.

“How did this happen?” She asks. You take a moment to think because the only way it could have happened was if Natasha had preheated the oven to the wrong temperature but you don’t want to discourage her. 

“Well maybe you accidentally set the wrong temperature,” you tell her gently, deciding to be truthful, “it doesn’t matter though, because it still looks great!” She attempts a smile but looks thoroughly unconvinced. In order to try to make her feel better you grab the knife from earlier and cut a tiny piece off the edge. Your first instinct is to make a face when you put it in your mouth because it really does taste bad but you smile through that. 

“See Tasha? It’s fine.” 

“Y/n, it’s ok I know it’s bad and while I’m disappointed I’m not upset,” she says, “thank you for trying to cheer me up anyways.”

“Ok, fine I have to admit it was pretty burnt. But the other one looks good and besides I’m sure whatever we make next week will turn out better.” Her eyes widen and her mouth opens and you laugh at her. 

“Next week? Y/n, we’re doing this again next week???”

#natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff #black widow x reader #black widow #y/n #x reader #marvel fanfiction #fanfiction #reader insert

[etherealcheol-mp3]

Gotcha || knj

pairing: kim namjoon x reader

genre: fluff, slight angst, coffee shop/ bakery!au, e2l, neighbors!au, non-idol!au

warnings: none really, slow burn, enemies to lovers, mentions of death/ fire, mentions of panic attacks, hints towards sexual themes, pranks played against one another constantly, b a n t e r

words: 20.3K (it’s a monster, i’m so sorry)

summary: rival shops aren’t the worst things in life, but maybe their owners are. after a less than ideal first meeting, y/n swears kim namjoon off as their mortal enemy. this is tolerable, bearable even. nobody said they had to step foot in each other's shops, but what happens when the vacant apartment in their building gets filled with a noisy neighbor with constant….guests. and what happens when said neighbor is revealed to be none other than kim namjoon? prank wars and lots of meddling from best friends.

A/N: this story was originally posted on my instagram @/constellationkookie and my wattpad @/hoodftarreaga. this was also originally written for Calum Hood but I’m bts trash now and have no regrets:) -toro

 I’ve never had a constant variable in my life. Moving around as a kid and changing schools happens to have that effect on a person. You learn not to expect too much from a friendship that you try to make work over texts and slowly dwindling phone calls and you begin to search for things in life that can become constants in some way or another. My form of constant was as simple as flour, sugar, eggs, and butter. The basic, core ingredients to any baked good. No matter where I moved or who I did or didn’t talk to, I had baking. All I needed was flour, sugar, eggs, and butter and I was whisked away to the safety of my kitchen where I didn’t have to deal with the chaos surrounding me in the outside world.

I didn’t need a boyfriend, best friend, or school club like everyone else. I didn’t need anything that would ground me into my surroundings since it would only make leaving that much harder. However, sometimes certain people try their hardest to latch onto you and gain your trust. They make you feel comfortable and allow you to open up and be vulnerable around them. I was twenty years old and living in Seoul with this certain person who just so happened to be my first and only best friend, Mal. She stood by my side through thick and thin and supported me to follow my dreams and do what I never thought was possible: open up my own bakery. It was hard at first and very stressful, but the end result was well worth the sleepless nights and crying fits.

Sunrise Bakery was my pride and joy and very successful. The name was Mal’s idea as she saw ‘the sun was rising on the start of my new life’. Seven months in, everything was going great, but then slowly my regulars began to not be so regular. ‘Friends’ turned into strangers and it seemed like everyone in the city forgot. I tried just about everything in the books from sales to new recipes but nothing kept them back for long. It wasn’t until I heard about a new coffee shop in town that I started to get worried. The Hideout Cafe was new in town and conveniently just down the street from my bakery. 

“Are you still plotting,'' Mal called from behind me. I turned my attention to her and furrowed my brow. “I’m not plotting anything,” I stated defensively and started rolling out the previously abandoned dough on the counter.

Mal snorts and rolls her eyes playfully before taking a sip out of her coffee cup, I hadn’t noticed it before. “Sure because staring out your window to try and see what's going on in there isn’t creepy at all.” I ignore her comment and look at the sleeve on her coffee cup before realizing which logo was on it.

“You went there? And actually ordered something?” I say incredulously. Her eyes widen slightly before sighing and slumping her shoulders. 

“I’m sorry but their latte is amazing! I seriously don’t know how they do it like it’s insane. I know you have some personal vendetta against them but just check it out one time and you’ll see how stupid it is. Customers aren’t going to stop coming permanently to a bakery because of a coffee shop.” I tried to ignore her and go to the back of the shop but she gently grabbed my wrist and stopped me in my tracks. 

“Come on, Y/N, you’ve been working since you opened and it’s time for a break. Please? For me?” I huffed before finally looking over at her and giving in. She silently cheered as I untied my apron and turned the open sign before locking up. We headed down the street and stopped in front of the shiny, new Hideout Cafe. Walking inside felt wrong but also relieving as the shop took over my senses. The warm air inside tickled my face, cold from the winter breeze outside. The clatter of cutlery accompanying the scent of coffee beans and light chatter of patrons soothed my senses in an instant. 

I followed Mal to the register and looked up at the seemingly endless menu posted on the wall. It was written in varying colors of chalk along with the seamless flow of script font that spelled out “Today’s Specials”. Mal pushed me forward and my eyes met the face of a boy around my age. He looked slightly amused and had a brow ever so lightly quirked up as he looked at my most likely flustered state. I opened my mouth but no sounds came out.

“First time?” The barista let out in his low voice. I shakily nodded my head before averting my gaze elsewhere. “Can I have a name for the order?” The barista started tapping on the screen in front of him. “Uh, Y/N. Just checking out the competition” I suddenly spoke, effectively shocking myself and him. He furrowed his brow before smiling almost smugly. I thought I saw a hint of a dimple but my attention was drawn elsewhere as he spoke again. 

“Oh, you must work at that dumb little bakery down the road. What is it? Moonlight or something?” I scoffed at his words and felt anger rush through my veins. “I happen to own that very successful bakery. And it’s Sunrise.” I spoke confidently.

“It’s irrelevant. It’ll probably be shut down in three months max at the rate of our shop. But hey it’s nice of you to add to the steady demise of your own bakery by buying something from us. What would you like? Pumpkin spice latte?” He spoke with such ease it infuriated me to no end. 

I turned away from the register to find Mal and leave as soon as possible. I knew coming here was a horrible idea and the sooner I left the better. I found Mal standing by the area to pick up drinks ‘talking’ to another male barista. I walked up next to her and waited for her to look at me but it seemed the only things on her mind were the warm eyes and cocky smirk adorned by plush lips on the other side of the counter. I cleared my throat and stepped closer to her and gained her attention only to lose it two seconds later as she turned back to the boy and introduced me to him.

“This is Y/N, it’s her first time here.” She spoke sweetly and I tried not to gag but the instinct was harder to resist as the barista from before walked up with a drink in hand with a smirk on his face. “Pumpkin spice latte for Y/N. Don’t worry, it’s on the house.” He winked at me before walking away and I scowled at his retreating figure. The barista with warm eyes laughed lightly before speaking, “Well it seems you made friends with our owner, Namjoon.”

Namjoon. Namjoon...blank. I don’t know much about him but I know the important things. He’s the owner of the Hideout Cafe. The self-righteous asshole who took it upon himself to spite me by not only making a basic drink that I will never admit to drinking half of, but also by misspelling my name. As soon as I noticed the lazy scrawl on the side of the cup with a lopsided smiley face next to it, I texted the photographic evidence to Mal and promptly trashed the drink.

I felt a heavy weight on my chest for the rest of the day and couldn’t seem to keep the scowl off my face as I suspiciously looked down the street. I tried to ignore the cocky smirk and the harsh words from earlier by rolling out dough and frosting cupcakes but something about the situation just didn’t sit right with me. Before I could overanalyze or create more conspiracy theories to add to my growing list (42 currently reside on this list and they all seem somewhat plausible) closing time for the bakery came and I started to clean up before walking home. 

My eyes felt droopy as I leaned against the elevator wall. The steady motion was quickly luring me to sleep but I forced my head to face forward as the doors opened and my bed became that much closer. I fumbled with my keys a bit before dropping them on the floor in front of my apartment. I grumbled out a curse before successfully entering and falling into bed after changing my flour ridden clothes. I fell asleep almost instantly and waited to be awoken by the sun through my blinds.

Except that’s not what happened. I awoke at 3:04 am to a loud blaring and lights flashing in my room. I groggily sat up before realizing what was happening. The fire alarm. My eyes widened and I jumped from my bed, grabbing my phone and the first pair of shoes I saw before bolting to my front door. I turned to my left to run to the stairway when I collided with a firm blur and stumbled backward. My vision was still slightly spinning before I heard the voice start to apologize. 

“Ah, shit. Sorry I didn’t see where I was going. I just moved in here and don’t know where to go.” That voice. The voice I had on repeat all afternoon after I left his shop. The voice of Namjoon. Namjoon Last-name.

I opened my eyes and saw him sleepily staring back at me before his ever-present smirk took over his face again. I groaned and threw my head back, begging the universe to tell me this was a joke but the semi hoarse laughter in front of me proved otherwise. 

“Nice slippers, Moonlight” I looked down and saw my fuzzy mermaid slippers on my feet. I let out a huff as I looked at him again before seeing it. His body was completely bare except for the black boxers and single sock on his right foot. My throat dried up and my eyes widened at the sight. I shook my head as the current situation sunk back in. Fire alarm, fire, danger, get to the stairs, get to safety. I ran past him to the stairway and didn’t look back. I couldn’t get stuck up there, I can’t. Visions of thick, black smoke and watery eyes flashed in my mind and my breathing picked up speed. Don’t think, just run.

I found my way to the ground floor and was greeted by a hoard of grumpy, tired people in pajamas crowding the entrance. I tried to squeeze my way through to the exit but as soon as I reached it a hand grabbed my wrist and I yelped before trying to pull my hand free. The hand let go almost instantly and I fearfully looked up only to see Namjoon again looking at me confused. I turned my head away from him and held my wrist close to my chest. 

“Woah, no need to freak out. It was a false alarm but I saw you running for the exit and wanted to stop you.” I dropped my arms and looked at him before seeing the hint of concern lacing his features. I chose to ignore it and said what I had first thought when I saw him in my hallway. 

“Why are you here and why are you naked?” The monotone delivery caught him off guard as his eyebrows raised and he chuckled at me. Those damn dimples proudly being displayed. “You must not have heard me earlier. I just moved in and it’s three in the morning so I was sleeping. This is how I sleep, well except for the boxers anyways.” He smirked again and I tried my hardest to not slap it off his face. I chose to roll my eyes instead and questioned him further.

“What apartment are you?” He had a devious glint in his eyes and I knew what he was thinking. “I’m not asking for that. You were in my hall so I want to know which door to avoid.” He squinted his eyes at me but the boyish grin on his face stayed. He looked me up and down and I crossed my arms over my chest, blushing at the intensity of his gaze. “5B.” He finally stated and I groaned in defeat at his answer. Of course, he lived there. 5B had been vacant for as long as I had lived in this building and I always hoped it would stay that way. “Well what about you,” he started,”which apartment is yours?” I brushed past him and walked to the elevator. The lobby had significantly cleared out since I got there and I decided I would rather sleep than talk to Namjoon Insert-Name-Here. 

The doors opened and I pressed the button for the fifth floor as Namjoon walked on and stared at me. I ignored him and his piercing gaze the entire ride up but he seemed to think this through as he motioned for me to exit first when we reached our floor. “Ladies first,” he said smugly and I grumbled to myself as I walked to my apartment. The number and letter on my door seemed to be mocking me as I stopped in front of them. I heard Namjoon trying to hold back his laughter to my right as he spoke. “Oh, Moonlight, this is gonna be fun.” He opened his door and walked in, leaving me to sulk in the hallway by myself. I banged my head against the door of 5C and felt the urge to scream. Namjoon...whatever his last name was, is going to be the death of me.

I didn’t sleep much after the fire alarms blaring that night. My thoughts were racing much too fast to grant me any type of peace. In fact, I hardly slept at all the few days after that night due to Namjoon constantly having friends over and yelling or blaring music at alarming volumes all night long. I walked groggily down the street to my bakery and fumbled for the keys in my bag. I let out a stream of curses under my breath as they fell to the ground, a seemingly new trait I had developed due to no sleep, and sighed as I leaned to pick them up. I could already tell this day would not be fun.

Customers filed through the shop door and the smell of sugar filled my senses until Mal walked in for her shift clutching two coffee cups. I narrowed my eyes at her cheery smile and the two cups in her hands. “You seriously stopped by that shop again? And you bought me a drink?” I questioned incredulously. Mal playfully rolled her eyes as she walked behind the counter without a care in the world.

“I just so happened to walk in to talk to Jimin and get my regular when a certain someone handed me another on the house.” Mal wiggled her eyebrows as she slid one of the cups towards me. I furrowed my brow, “Jimin? I’ve never heard you talk about them before. And if you’re trying to be subtle and make me guess how you managed to flirt with one guy while charming another so much that he bought you a free drink, it’s not working.” Mal chuckled lightly before shaking her head and explaining.

“You do know Jimin, you two met that day we went to check out the Hideout. He asked me out when I stopped by today and after I agreed your neighbor stopped by to ask me to give you this. Have anything to share, Y/N?” She tapped the lid of the cup and based on the tone she used and the faux innocence in her wide eyes, I knew she was trying to not scream at me for not instantly telling her Namjoon was my neighbor. Or she was trying not to laugh. Laughing seemed to be all the universe was doing to me recently.

I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply “Unfortunately yes. I found out last week that we live next door to each other.” I could only grumble the words that left a bitter taste in my mouth. Namjoon always seemed to have that effect on me. The fact that he even had an effect on me made it worse. I opened my eyes to see Mal smirking at me while she continuously shifted her gaze to the cup that seemingly shifted closer to my hand resting on the counter.

I picked up the cup slowly, scared it would explode or an animal would come out and attack me at any sudden movement. I saw the messy handwriting on the side that was slowly becoming familiar and felt my blood boil at what it read. My name wasn’t too complicated but once again he had seemed to misspell it so bad that it almost had to be done on purpose. Mal was struggling to hold back her giggles and I glared at her. “You can’t seriously be that mad at him, it’s funny!” She spoke defensively. I threw my head back in defeat and groaned before starting to walk towards the kitchen. 

“But I can be because he’s a self righteous jerk who only cares about himself and doesn’t even try to be a decent human being and spell a name right. I swear, every single thing he does makes me want to scream.” I finally vented as Mal followed me. “I bet he wants to make you scream,” Mal states smugly, making me glare at her over my shoulder before she changed the subject, “So what are you gonna do about it?” She questioned me and I turned to face her with confusion etched across my face. “You keep complaining about the guy and you just let him keep getting to you. You need to annoy him back or at least let him know you’re not going down without a fight. And I’m only saying this since apparently hate sex is off the table.”

I thought for a minute and it didn’t seem like a bad idea. Better than the latter one at least. “I don’t even know what I would do. I can hardly face him without wanting to run away and yell into my pillow.” I was whining and I knew it but in my defense it was true. If I had to look at Namjoon whatever his last name was smirking at me with those dimples one more time I was going to lose it. Mal’s eyes slightly widened and her grin started to grow as I felt fear rise in me. She had an idea and it would most likely end up with injury or prison.

“You live next door to the guy. And his shop is down the road. There’s nothing wrong with a little prank to tell him to back off.” I crossed my arms and opened my mouth to protest only to close it as her words really hit me. It really wasn’t the worst idea ever. I would have to think everything through and leave no room for mistake but he had to know it was me. I had to give him the sign to back off but I couldn’t anger him too much. Luckily though Mal was already listing ideas before I could think of any on my own.

I cut her off after hearing the words ‘peanut butter’, ‘toilet paper’ and ‘hedge clipper’ by putting my hand out and laughing. “Let’s start off tame first. I can barely think straight after getting no slee-'' I suddenly stopped speaking and smiled largely. I knew what I wanted to do but I had to make sure it was perfect. 

I checked the clock on the microwave one more time as I started to get nervous. It was 4:03AM and Namjoon’s front door had closed roughly thirty minutes ago. I hadn’t heard any noise from his apartment aside from the shower and shuffling around. Suddenly I had found benefits to paper thin walls. Everything was perfect and now it was time to set my plan into motion. I loudly swung open my cabinets and turned on my bluetooth speaker as music started to fill the spaces around me. I dropped some metal pans on the floor and slammed a cookie sheet onto my counter for good measure before grabbing my ingredients. I would’ve worried about other neighbors complaining but I thankfully had an apartment on the corner of the hall. Only Namjoon would be able to hear the noise I made.

 I worked loudly and sang along to the music coming from my speakers. Soon enough the electric mixer was loudly whirring and the oven was beeping to alert me of the temperature being reached. I had just aggressively closed the oven door when I heard a harsh banging at my door. I smiled and ignored it. I had riskily left the front door unlocked and just as I had assumed, Namjoon Last Name raced into my apartment after knocking and being ignored once again. 

He walked to my kitchen and found my speaker, quickly turning it off. I didn’t even glance up at him once as he breathed heavily through his nose and stared at me. “Do you have any idea what fucking time it is?” He spoke angrily and I tried not to laugh. “Yep” I replied coolly. “What are you do- are you baking a cake? It’s 4am. Why are you baking a cake? And what’s with the party decorations?” He spoke confusedly as he looked around at the streamers and balloons decorating my apartment. “I’m celebrating the death of my sleep schedule and sanity. Want a cookie?” 

I finally looked at him and kept a straight face as his jaw hung open and his eyes narrowed. “A cookie? No I don’t want a fucking cookie. What the fuck is wrong with you?” He threw his hands up and looked at me like I was crazy. I think I probably was after almost a week of no sleep, but I kept up the act. “You sound tense. The cupcakes should be done soon, maybe they’ll help you loosen up.” Namjoon huffed and talked to me like I was a child. “I’m pissed. You can’t just fucking make all the noise in the world at 4AM and expect everyone to sleep through it and be okay with it-”

I pointed my rubber spatula at him and glared, effectively cutting him off. “Why not? It’s all you seem to do every night when you have friends over and scream at a television for four hours straight.” I stuck a finger into the frosting I was in the process of creating and put it in my mouth to suck the frosting off. “Needs more vanilla” I mumbled to myself. I still had some left on my finger and stuck out my tongue to effectively lick the rest of it off and went back to mixing. Namjoon was silent. After a minute of ignoring him I looked up, almost expecting him to be gone but there he was. His jaw was tense and his eyes slightly wide while his eyebrows almost raised to the top of his head. 

He looked away as I met his eye and grunted out a “Just keep it down okay?” Before bolting out the door and leaving me confused in my kitchen. I put some plastic wrap over my frosting and put the cupcakes onto a cooling rack before retiring to my bed for a few hours of sleep. Namjoon was on my mind though. He seemed to leave pretty quickly and I wondered if I had gone too far. Did I get him too angry? Did I cross a line with what I said? I pushed away those thoughts since I was only doing and saying what he had to me. It couldn’t be that bad. 

Could it?

I slept surprisingly well after Namjoon left. My alarm greeted me only a few, short hours later, however, I felt like I had slept for years. I took a quick shower and started to get ready for the day when I heard movement through the thin walls of my bedroom. Namjoon was awake. Namjoon. My eyes widened at the thought of him and his probable reaction to my little prank last night. My heart beat started to accelerate ever so slightly as I hurriedly finished getting ready.

I slowly opened my bedroom door and peeked my head out slowly. I turned to thoroughly inspect every hidden corner for anything Namjoon could have planted while I was sleeping but found nothing. Nevertheless I was still paranoid. I walked to my kitchen quickly and grabbed a granola bar before slipping on my shoes and heading to the door. I was ready to get to my shop and away from the close proximity of him.

I felt my phone vibrate rapidly in my pocket and groaned as I barely had enough energy and concentration to focus on getting my shoes on the right feet. I saw Mal’s name on the screen and answered quickly. I couldn’t even get a word in as she instantly greeted me with a warm “Where the hell are you?!” and I winced as I pulled the phone away from my poor ear.

“I’m leaving the apartment? Same time as usual.” I stated tiredly. Mal wasted no time as she once again responded too loudly for this hour. “You forgot what day it is, didn’t you?” I froze at her words and pulled my phone away to see the date on the screen. A bold ‘February 4th’ stared back at me and my eyes widened once again that morning. Shit.

Ever since we became friends, Mal and I had created a tradition. On the same day every year we would meet up and spend the day together doing whatever we needed at the time. Some years we went shopping for dates we had or prom dresses, others we stayed at home doing face masks and watching Queer Eye and some harder years we ate ice cream and vented about how much life sucked and how glad we were to have each other. The most important year though was when we moved out to Seoul together after graduating college and saving up money for plane tickets and moving expenses. This day was our day and it always had been, it was more important than some official holidays to us and it was today. February 4th. 

“I love you?” I tried pathetically and Mal laughed at my response, already knowing I had forgotten. Thankfully she wasn’t angry with me as she playfully replied, “You move out of our place for three months and suddenly you forget the most important day of the year.” I laughed but couldn’t help the guilt I felt weighing me down. Mal was my best friend, my rock and I wouldn’t be doing half of the things I had accomplished without her by my side. 

Seemingly reading my mind Mal spoke softly, “Don’t feel bad Y/N/N, I’ve easily forgotten at least four times in the past. I’m coming by yours in a bit and we can decide what the plan is from there.” I smiled even though she couldn’t see it and we said our goodbyes before hanging up. I walked to the front door to be ready to meet her in the lobby as she wasn’t too far from me. I went to lock my door but decided against it as we probably would just end up there for the day and walked to the elevator. 

“Junk food and netflix?” Mal spoke as I opened her car door and got in. I eagerly agreed and we headed to our first stop: the closest convenience store. It easily was the most cost effective option and yet another monument of our friendship. Whenever we were bored or wanted to hang out we always ended up at the closest convenience store and always bought too many things (mainly snacks) we didn’t need. It was always worth it.

After spending too much time and money we headed back to Mal’s apartment and got ready to spend the day together. We pulled up ‘After’ on Netflix because we knew how bad it would be and wanted to laugh at ourselves and each other for reading the original Harry Styles fanfic the movie was based on. After pausing the movie a million times to laugh and talk about what chapter this would be, Mal turned to me and spoke genuinely, “How are you today?” I sighed and looked her in the eye. I smiled as big as I could and told her the truth. “Could be better. It’s always going to be hard though and my neighbor really isn’t helping things.” 

February 4th wasn’t a randomly chosen date. It was a date chosen to help me be prepared for another significant date just around the corner. Mal smiled and nodded in understanding before speaking again, “What would be best for us to do the rest of today?” This is why I loved Mal. She knew the real reason why this day was created and she still never tried to do what she thought I needed to have fun or be okay with it or even ignore it. She always wanted to make sure I was doing what I needed for myself.

I smiled again, larger this time and told her gratefully, “Honestly watching ‘This Is Us’ and crying over One Direction sounds great right now.” We laughed before we pulled the movie and cuddled up together under the blankets. I was so lucky.

I got back to my apartment around 9pm that night with a smile on my face. Today was great and I knew it would help me be prepared for the next important day. I went to unlock my door but it was already unlocked. I froze as I remembered not locking it this morning in case we ended up here and felt my heart drop as I heard the TV on inside. I knew I didn’t leave it on this morning as I hardly used it in general and I braced myself as I slowly opened the door, ready to face whatever burglar or serial killer was inside. Only it was worse.

Namjoon was relaxed and sprawled out on my couch with his feet on the coffee table in front of him. He had a mug with tea in it next to his feet and I gaped at him. He turned to me as he heard the door open and smiled smugly at my expression. “Oh, hey you’re back.” He turned back to the TV and I was too shocked to move from my place in the doorway. He spoke casually like he had every right to be in there. “You know, you should probably stop leaving your door unlocked. You never know what creep or weirdo could walk in.” He took a sip of his tea and raised his brows at me. 

I started to mutter out a response but he stood from the couch and cut me off from my stuttering. “I just want to apologize for keeping you up last week. It’s not cool and I learned my lesson completely. It won’t happen again.” He spoke sincerely and it was honestly scary to hear him talk without sounding sarcastic or cruel. I narrowed my eyes at him and spoke in disbelief, “Really? So...we’re cool?” Namjoon laughed genuinely with his award winning dimples in view as I arched my brow in confusion. He patted my shoulder as he replied. “Yeah, we’re cool.”

With that he walked past me and out the door, closing it behind him and calling for me to “Make sure you lock it”. I looked around my apartment for anything that seemed broken or tampered with to ignore the pounding of my heart and the heat that lingered where his hand was. After coming up empty handed I was confused. Surely he would’ve tried to get me back. Maybe I was wrong about him. Maybe I shouldn’t have gone so far like I did and just talked to him. I sighed and groaned as I felt guilt start to swallow me up again that day. 

It wasn’t until I moved to get ready for bed that I saw I had no need to feel guilty at all. I was right about him. I should’ve gone further than what I did because he did get me back. He had replaced something of mine I hadn’t thought of before and it was way worse than I could’ve imagined. Sitting innocently on top of my dresser was a little note with his messy scrawl reading ‘Gotcha ;)’ and I panicked. I looked through all my shirts, pants, socks but found nothing until I looked in the last drawer. I gasped as I saw his handiwork and couldn’t believe it. He had replaced my entire underwear collection with brand new, lacy thongs.

To say I was fuming would be an understatement. Not only had he completely invaded my privacy but he had touched and stolen things that were for my eyes only. I had to use every ounce of strength in my body to not feel embarrassed that he had seen my lackluster collection since that was not the issue here. I couldn’t just ask him to give them back and at the moment putting on my dirty pair I discarded after the quick shower I had taken was also not an option. I swallowed my pride and slipped a lacy red thong with floral details up my legs and dove into bed hoping to forget my day and have sleep take over me.

Shockingly, I seemed to once again be the only one who found my situation infuriating. Mal was practically suffering the next morning as she tried to hold in her laughter at my explanation of the night before. My glare did nothing to ease her laughter that had finally bubbled out of her loudly and I brushed past her into the kitchen in my shop. I ignored her wheezing as I pulled out the bowls and ingredients for the day. Today called for a new creation and ultimate focus since all I could think of was the fact that I could feel the soft material of my sundress against just about every part of me.

Tying my apron around my waist, I got to work. I started with cupcakes as I was constantly out of stock of my new flavor “Maliblue”. It was a spring themed cupcake with lemon flavored cake and a blueberry frosting. The hoards of college students on spring break back at home posting pictures at beaches inspired the name and surprisingly it sold well for a small bakery in Korea. As I placed my first batch in the oven I got to thinking on what to do next. I wanted something new and good. 

Before I could clearly think out any ideas I started grabbing ingredients and let my body work for me. Mal walked back, seemingly calmed down and ready to let me vent. “Alright I’m sorry but you can not tell me you don't see any humor in this!” 

I rolled my eyes and pushed a stubborn strand of hair back behind my ear as I worked on the mystery item in front of me. “Honestly I don’t see any humor in him discovering my granny panty collection.” I murmured under my breath. My eyes widened as I spoke and I hoped she hadn’t heard me, but as her smile widened and she crossed her arms over her chest smugly I knew the damage was done. “So that’s why you’re upset. You’re embarrassed cause the guy you like saw your underwear and now he probably doesn't think you’re sexy. I mean it’s understandable.” 

I fought the urge to wipe her smug grin off her face and instead spoke in a tone way too defensive “I do not like him and couldn’t give two shits if he thought I was sexy.” This only made her grin widen even further and my growing blush worsen. I groaned at the sight and went back to mixing the batter in front of me. I apparently was in a cupcake mood as that’s what I decided to make with it.

“What are you making?” Mal questioned as I moved to grab some cream cheese and raspberries from the fridge and I shrugged in response because I truly didn’t know. I had finished the chocolate cake batter and now started on a filling. I heard Mal’s phone buzz and she grabbed it at lightning speed while smiling at her screen. I raised my eyebrows in reaction to her sudden movement and she gave me an apologetic glance before hurriedly typing out a response. It was now my turn to question her and she seemed to realize this as she innocently looked at me before trying to dip her finger in the chocolate batter.

I swatted her hand away and put my hands on my hips while tilting my head at her accusingly. She sighed and started to blush before I even asked the question she knew was on my mind. “So who is he?” I suddenly spoke and Mal flushed even further before smiling and quietly muttering “Jimin” in response. I kind of expected his name even though I constantly teased her for ‘liking the enemy’. Before I could question her further though, the oven dinged and the front door swung open against the bells above it, signalling a new customer. “Literally saved by the bell.” I spoke as I went to the oven.

She darted to the front of the store leaving me confused as she never was excited to greet customers. I shook it off and pulled the cupcakes from the oven, continuing to mix the filling for my new batch as they cooled. After placing the chocolate batter in a greased tin and placing them in the oven, I walked out of the kitchen, wiping my hands on my apron, and froze. Of course it wasn’t just a customer that had come in. It was Jimin and behind him stood an amused looking Namjoon. I rolled my eyes at the sight and overheard Mal and Jimin talking about their plans for the evening. I smiled slightly hearing them so excited and watching them act like love sick puppies.

“Wow you sure know how to greet your customers huh?” Spoke a familiar voice and my smile vanished. I still hadn’t come up with my plan to get him back and I honestly didn’t have the patience to face him while wearing lace. That he had bought.

“I wouldn’t consider you a customer, more like a nuisance.” I spoke boldly and his signature wicked grin appeared. Before he could speak up again Mal put her hand on my shoulder. “I’ve just had a great idea.” She spoke loudly, gaining everyone's attention. “Oh no.” I mumbled at the glint in her eyes. “Why don’t you and Namjoon join me and Jimin tonight? I’m sure staying here all night can’t possibly be better than mini golf and ice cream.” She spoke sweetly but I knew better. 

Jimin instantly agreed and I saw a similar look of dread on Namjoon’s face as I turned to face him. It quickly vanished though as he replaced it with a cocky smirk and made eye contact with me as she spoke “That is a great idea. It’s a date.” I almost choked on my spit at his words but before I could retort, he glanced at his watch and got Jimin’s attention as they had to head back to their shop. “See you at closing, Moonlight.” He winked after his words and was out the door. I saw Mal turn to me with eyebrows raised and knew she was going to question the nickname but the oven dinged once again and I sheepishly told her, “Saved by the bell?”

I had finished my new cupcakes and placed them out to be sold when shockingly they sold out. I had to remake them twice throughout the day but had yet to come up with a name for them. Before I could though, it was closing time and Jimin and Namjoon had come back to the shop, ready to go mini golfing. I cursed myself for wearing a short sundress and jean jacket as Seoul decided wind was a great idea tonight. I locked the door to the shop and we headed off. Before we got too far, however, Namjoon pulled me back to walk with him and leaned into my ear as he spoke “Hope you’re wearing one of my presents tonight under that dress, Moonlight.” I felt my jaw drop as he let go of my arm and innocently smiled before walking off to join Jimin and Mal.

This was going to be a long night.

Walking to mini golf felt like an eternity with Namjoon standing next to me, towering over my frame, and with Mal and Jimin giggling and holding hands in front of us. I didn’t realize I was staring at them until a chuckle sounded from next to me. “What?” I asked him questioningly. He smiled softly at me and I felt my heart clench at the sight. This was the first time he had looked at me with anything other than cockiness or venom in his eyes. I brushed off the feeling as shock and waited for him to reply. 

“You just had a funny face is all. You looked bored, angry and like you were plotting some evil plan all at once.” He spoke jokingly and I sighed at his answer. “Why does everyone say that?” I groaned and Namjoon looked at me confused but intrigued. I answered the question I knew he was about to ask, “Everyone says I look like I’m plotting something and I never am. I don’t plot anything. Ever.” Namjoon just laughed lightly at that and looked up at the setting sun.

“If it means anything, you look cute when you plot how to escape third-wheeling. You furrow your eyebrows and squint your eyes and get all focused.” He looked sheepish as he finished his statement and scratched at his neck before he shoved his hands in his pockets. I felt heat rise to my cheeks and cleared my throat before retorting. “Don’t think you can just try to smooth talk me and make me forgive you for your little prank last night.” I sounded much more confident than I felt and I praised whatever higher power for giving me that strength.

Namjoon smirked but it wasn’t cocky like it usually was. He hung his head down and shook his head while smiling, dimples proudly on display. We were quiet for a while after that but soon we were at the mini golf place and practically pulled inside by Mal and Jimin. The interior was dark and covered in blacklights and neon paints lit up the otherwise hidden walls and courses. Jimin paid for Mal and I went to grab my wallet when Namjoon stopped me with his question of “What color ball do you want, Moonlight?”. I quirked a brow at him in slight protest before he tilted his head at me in response and sighed out a ‘green’ in indignation.

He grinned in triumph as he received our balls and the score card from the teenage cashier. He tossed me my green ball which I easily caught and rolled my eyes as he led me to the first hole. My worn, white shoes lit up under the lights as well as Namjoon’s shirt under his flannel and warm looking jacket. He boyishly smiled at the sight and his eyes widened as he did so. I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of him acting like a little kid and he looked like a deer in headlights as he realized he was caught. 

I placed my ball down after Mal hugged a blushing Jimin for getting a hole in one and was ready to give a half assed attempt at hitting the ball before Namjoon asked in shock “What are you doing?” like I was committing a crime. I stood up straight in confusion and lazily gestured to my ball before responding plainly “Playing mini golf. It’s not like I’m trying to win or anything.” I leaned back over before he moved towards me. I stood up again and held out my hand for him to stop before speaking again.

“No. Absolutely not. You’re not about to pull some cheesy rom com bullshit on me where the guy goes behind the girl to ‘help with her technique’. Go stand by that neon pink dick on the wall and look pretty while I take five attempts at getting this ball in the hole.” I pointed my finger at the wall as I spoke and he laughed loudly at my speech before raising his hands in surrender and stepping close to the wall with said spray painted neon pink dick. He crossed his arms and challenged me with his eyes to do as I said I would.

“Thank you.” I curtsied in my sundress and he laughed in response. It took me four tries before I finished while Namjoon got it in two and we walked to the next hole before realizing Mal and Jimin were far ahead of us. I sighed at the sight of the next 17 holes and Namjoon nudged me with his elbow. “You know, the tickets for mini golf also came with unlimited arcade credits.” he pointed his head in the direction of the arcade on the other side of the courses. I smiled and started walking towards the bright lights and sounds of the games being played before speaking over my shoulder “I’ll kick your ass in skeeball.” 

“You’re a cheater.” Namjoon spoke grumpily as I won another game and beat him. We played a few rounds of skeeball then moved on to air hockey where he destroyed me and I sulked until we played mario kart where I came in second to him again. I pouted until he led me to the basketball game where I beat his ass twice. 

I laughed at his words as we walked to the counter for prizes. “I never cheat. You just chose to get your ass handed to you by a girl. It’s okay, Joon. Happens to the best of us.” He stopped moving and smiled and I grabbed his wrist to drag him to the counter before dropping all our tickets onto it. “Stop smiling like a doofus and get me that angry minion.” I put my hands on my hips as I spoke and he looked at the worker before saying “You heard the lady.” and pushing our tickets to them. 

He kept smiling and looking at his shoes as if they were incredibly interesting before I flicked his shoulder and asked him “What are you smiling at?” He shook his head and grabbed the minion from the employee’s hand and mine in his other hand. I blushed lightly at the sudden contact and moved to keep up with him. “You called me Joon. It’s cute. I usually reserve that nickname for family and close friends so the fact I’m not throwing your ass outside and blocking off all contact with you is a shock to us all.”

I laughed at his statement and we soon ran into Mal and Jimin who looked equally smug and love sick as ever. Mal looked down to our still interlocked hands and I quickly withdrew mine from Namjoon’s grasp before speaking. “So. Ice cream anyone?”

The walk to the parlor was quiet and Namjoon looked deep in thought as his hands were shoved in his pockets and his brows were furrowed. The ice cream shop we were going to wasn’t even a real shop as it was a cart with outdoor seating under strung lights and wooden beams. The wind had only gotten worse as the night went on so the cold was brutal against my exposed skin. I pulled my surprisingly thin jean jacket tight around my frame and moved my hands quickly up and down my arms in an attempt to gain some warmth. Suddenly a hand stopped my quick movements and I was pulled into a firm body. I looked up in shock as Namjoon hugged me tightly against him and wrapped his arms around my waist.

I tried to push away from him but he was so warm I was finding it hard to resist. “Stop pushing, Moonlight. Put your arms inside my jacket, it’ll warm you up.” I eyed him suspiciously and he sighed before rolling his eyes and starting to pull away. I practically shouted in protest as I felt the sudden frigid wind hit me again. I hesitantly listened to him and leaned fully against him with my arms inside of his incredibly warm jacket.

“Who’s bullshit idea was it to get ice cream outside.” I grumbled against his chest. I felt the vibrations of him laughing at my words and felt soothed at the sensation. I closed my eyes and released a breath I hadn’t known I was holding in. His arms rubbed up and down my back and I felt tension leave my body as we started to sway side to side. “I’m still pissed at you.” I spoke again and I felt him look down at me. I met his amused eyes and put my chin on his chest as I looked up at him. “Damn, you mean my plan to woo you and make you fall for me so you’ll forget how mad you are hasn’t worked yet?” 

I smiled at him and breathily laughed before speaking with new found confidence. “Barely. It might’ve worked if I wasn’t wearing red lace all day with no one to admire. It’s frustrating really. If only I were wooed.” 

Nobody could have prepared me for the absolute chaos that came from joining Jimin and Mal on their date. It was only the next morning and my phone hadn’t stopped buzzing due to texts and calls from Mal. I only briefly glanced at them before I went to sleep the night before and knew she was begging for “details” of the night she imagined happened. Namjoon had walked me back to our building after we finished up our ice cream. We walked in silence with our hands brushing slightly with every sudden movement. After a few blocks I crossed my arms over my chest, too high off the feeling of his skin against mine, no matter how miniscule and told myself it was due to how cold I was. 

I was utterly dumbfounded. Yes, Namjoon was undeniably attractive and we had gotten along well throughout our night together but he was still Namjoon. The guy stealing my business, my noisy neighbor who replaced all my underwear, the jerk who couldn’t even attempt to spell my name right, Namjoon. He made my blood boil and my heart race but it was beginning to get confusing as I couldn’t distinguish the anger for something else. We parted ways as he stopped in front of his door and I kept walking to mine. I thought he was about to speak but I had already opened my door and rushed in before he could utter a single syllable.

Sleep didn’t come easy, and before I knew it I had tossed and turned until 5am. I sighed and pushed myself up to get ready. I clearly wasn’t going to rest and the only form of relaxation I knew was a few blocks down the road. I shrugged on my clothes after a quick shower and grabbed my keys before heading out. I froze as I heard the door next to mine open as I was locking my own and willed myself to not look at him as I heard the footsteps suddenly stop just like mine had.

I finished locking my door and turned in the direction of the elevator without making any effort to actually walk towards it. Namjoon quickly closed and locked his door and suddenly we were in a silent battle of who would speak first. Shy glances and nervous movements could only do so much and he seemed to grow tired of it as he spoke up first. “Early morning?” He asked as he reached up to scratch at the back of his neck awkwardly. It seemed to be a nervous habit of his but before I could think about what that made me feel I responded. “Couldn’t sleep.” I spoke sheepishly and played with my hands in front of me.

I took in a breath and looked up with a smile as I walked to the elevator behind him. He joined me and soon the doors were closing behind us. “Was I too loud or anything? I was kinda up all night too. Just...thinking.” He grew quiet as he finished and I assured him it had nothing to do with him. At least I think so. We once again started walking down the road to our respective shops by each other's side. Our hands brushed again and I praised the yawn that left my body as it gave me an excuse to move my hand away from his. He looked over at me and once again looked like he wanted to say something. This time, however, I let him say what was on his mind.

“Do you maybe want a coffee? I mean that’s at least why I left my place.” I looked up at him and blinked away the tears that had formed due to my yawning and saw something flash in his eyes and a small smile grow on his face. I was hesitant to spend more time alone with him but before I could deny him another yawn left me and he chuckled. “Come on, Moonlight, I think I know a good place.”

We made our way to the Hideout Cafe and he grabbed the keys from his back pocket before holding the door open for me. I smiled at him in thanks and took in the coffee shop once again. It was different at this time of day. The chairs were stacked up and pushed against the walls along with the wooden tables, the dim lights were calming as the sun had yet to rise and fill up the shop with its bright rays. Namjoon moved easily behind the counter and turned on some machines I didn’t recognize. I stood next to the door taking in all the artwork and posters lining the walls before I noticed a section at the corner of the shop. There was a wooden ledge lining the corner covered in pillows and soft looking blankets. The lights hanging above it made it look inviting and I slowly walked towards the bookcases on the wall next to the makeshift reading nook.

I looked at the familiar and unknown titles until I heard Namjoon call for me. I turned to answer him only to see him walking towards me. “I didn’t see this here the first time I came.” I spoke softly and he smiled at me before pulling a book off the ledge and placing it on the shelf where it belonged. “When I bought this place the corner seat was already here so it just felt right to add everything else.” He shrugged as he spoke but the almost longing look he wore towards the books told me there was something more to his story.

He turned to me again as he spoke “What would you like?” and his right arm stretched out to the chalkboard menu above the counter. I walked with him to stand in front of it to get a better look but couldn’t decide. I bit down on my lip in concentration as I tried to figure out something right to order. I didn’t want to get something embarrassing and ‘basic’ but I wanted something that tasted good. Namjoon stood next to me and looked at the side of my face before I decided to say what I thought was a good answer. “Surprise me.”

And surprise me, he definitely did. I moved to lean against the counter as I watched him work. We talked about random facts and our favorite things and every few minutes I would ask what he was making before he would continue to avoid my question. After a seemingly never ending wait he handed me my to go cup with steam and an addicting aroma wafting up to my nose. He already looked smug before I even took a sip and I knew it was going to be good. I took the lid off to let it cool off and smell it clearly. Fed up with my stalling, Namjoon rolled his eyes and ordered me to drink it. I huffed out a sigh and did as he said. I was right. It was good. Before I could stroke his ego with my full review of the magical drink in my hands I had to open up my own shop.

That didn’t cause the image of him smirking and calling out to me “Bye, Moonlight.” to leave my mind for the rest of the day. If anything it only made me long to see him even sooner. Mal had burst into the shop on schedule and I prepared myself for her interrogation. “Well you two were certainly cozy last night. It’s truly amazing how well you can get along with others when you aren’t trying to rip their head off.” I rolled my eyes before changing the subject. “I was only trying to get close to him and make him think I don’t have my next prank planned and ready to go.” 

Mal laughed at my words before looking me in the eye and speaking confidently, “If you wanted my help coming up with a prank you could’ve just asked instead of lying.” I laughed before looking at her with pleading eyes. “My God you’re hopeless.” She sighed and I silently cheered as I knew she was going to help.

A few google searches, texts to Jimin, and a visit to a public library copy machine later we were ready. It was still only noon and I sent Mal out to put up all the flyers we had made before taking a lunch break together. I was nervous to see how this went. I wouldn’t be around him all day and I was relying on updates from Jimin to see how everything was going. All I could gather from the last text Mal had received and read out to me was that Namjoon was pissed. Mission accomplished. 

Walking to my building on my own felt lonely after having someone with me the night before and this morning. I brushed that thought aside as I knew Namjoon would be home soon as I saw Jimin turning the ‘Open’ sign on the door to the Hideout Cafe to ‘Closed’ before giving me a wink. 

I had made it to the elevator in the lobby before the door to the building opened behind me. I felt a shiver go down my spine in anticipation and excitement. Sure enough a tired and annoyed looking Namjoon stood next to me while glaring down at his phone. I bit back my laugh and pressed the button for our floor in silence. He leaned his head back onto the elevator wall and let out a deep breath. I started to feel guilty but he didn’t know I was to blame for the likely endless calls he had received today so I swallowed my fear and walked to my door as the elevator came to a stop at our floor. 

I was putting my key into the lock when I heard a deep groan and ringtone start to play loudly. I couldn’t help the smile on my face as I heard Namjoon angrily speak into the phone “No this is not the number for Chewbaca roaring contest, please don’t call again.” before hanging up. I laughed before clamping a hand over my mouth quickly, but it was too late. Namjoon looked over at me and realization flashed across his face followed my anger and...hurt? He opened his door before slamming it behind him and I continued to laugh until I made my way inside my own apartment. That’s when the confusion hit. Why did the hurt look on his face make me feel guilty all over again?

I woke up not being able to breathe. My eyes were open wide and I continued to cough and wheeze, trying to desperately fill my burning lungs with the air they craved. I threw my duvet off my body and fell to the floor of my bedroom coughing with tears streaming down my face. 

“Y/N run!” 

No. This isn’t real. It’s all a dream. My head was tormenting me with memories from that night. My chest started to rise and fall frantically due to the lack of oxygen and the flashing images behind my eyelids.

“Help! Please someone help me!” I was running around the hoards of people filling my street and in front of my house. There were red and blue lights flashing and blurring my vision until all I saw was a kaleidoscope of the two colors.

I clamped my hands over my ears and let out a violent sob. I couldn’t see clearly in front of me. There was a thin fog covering the room and burning my eyes.

I fell to my knees and sobbed until I was mobbed by a herd of paramedics and police officers. I was hysterical. “Please, just help me please! They're still inside please, they were on the second floor please!” I pushed away hands full of gauze and bandages, trying to get them to just understand. “My mom and sister are still inside please! Go get them” All of my senses were overpowered by fiery embers and heat, yet I could see more clearly than ever as a firefighter walked quickly to a police officer helping to try and calm me down. I was zeroed in on the interaction and would never forget the feeling of my heart dropping and shattering when they pulled away and looked back on me with that undeniable look of pity on their faces.

I screamed and felt all of the life leave my body as I fell to the asphalt below me. There was silence. I couldn’t hear my screams of agony, feel the hands pulling me up and into an ambulance, taste the smoke that I had been choking on earlier, smell the burnt remnants of my home that had gone up in flames, or see anything aside from the flashing images of my mother and sister in my mind.

I was rocking back and forth, mumbling incoherently, and sobbing as I curled into myself at the foot of my bed. I felt my body being shaken and shot my eyes open to see the concerned face of Mal above me. Her hands were on my shoulders and she was calling out my name. I launched into her arms and continued sobbing into her shoulder. She brushed her hands through my hair and held me until I was only hiccuping every few seconds. 

“I came to check up on you because I know 5 years is a big anniversary. What happened? I could smell that air freshener from the elevator.” She spoke softly as she looked into my eyes with concern. I furrowed my brows in confusion before looking around the room. “What? It’s not the 14th yet, Mal. Right?” She pulled my phone off the nightstand and showed me the screen with the date I’ve despised for the past 5 years on the screen. I felt my heart drop and tears well up all over again. I blinked them back before continuing to answer her second question.

“I don’t know what happened. I woke up and I couldn’t breathe or see clearly. What do you mean you could smell the air freshener? I didn’t spray anything.” As I calmed down more I could smell the overpowering scent of fruit and hibiscus. I scrunched up my face and gagged at the suffocating aromas. Mal furrowed her brows and grabbed an almost empty aerosol can of air freshener from beside her. “I mean I assumed you didn’t do this since I had to cut a zip tie off of it. Babe, I think you were pranked.” It made sense. The surprise and shock of it, the zip tie, all of it. 

I shook my head and moved to stand up. “What are you doing?” Mal questioned. I moved to my closet and grabbed some jeans and an old t-shirt. “Getting ready for work. I was pranked, it’s not the end of the world or a reason for me to stop living life as per usual.” I couldn’t meet her eyes as I spoke. I didn’t want to talk about what had happened. Especially today. Mal sighed before standing as well. “I know it still hurts. Anyone in your place would feel the exact same way. But it’s been 5 years since that fire and I know the anniversaries always hit you harder as the years go by. When you choose to talk to me, I’ll be here.”

I nodded my head as I held onto my clothes for the day. 5 years. 5 years. They died exactly 5 years ago today and I still missed them like it was day one. I let out a sigh before starting to get dressed.

I spent all day in the bakery trying to avoid all my emotions I had kept bottled up. It was getting harder to ignore everything but being in my safe place usually made it bearable. However, today I was confused. Customers kept asking for refunds repeatedly throughout the day and I didn’t understand why. I baked everything fresh this morning, the same as I always have. Even my regulars were complaining and throwing perfectly fine food into the trash. It seemed like the cherry on top of everything that had happened already. Mal and I struggled to find the answer for hours. We retraced and rebaked until our heads were spinning.

I was dealing with a new customer who was demanding a refund when the answer became clear. “It’s just pure salt! Honestly how can you run a bakery and mix up your salt and sugar!” I froze. The customer continued to rant but I felt like I was underwater. I know for a fact I had used the sugar. I hadn’t mixed up like that since I was a child experimenting at home. I quickly apologised and handed the customer their money before rushing back to the kitchen. Mal had watched the encounter and followed quickly behind me. I practically threw the sugar container onto my work table before ripping off the plastic lid. I put my finger inside and tasted the white contents. Salt. I was dumbfounded. How could this have happened.

The bell above the shop sounded and I walked out to greet the customer while trying to hide the confusion on my face. I walked in view of my “customer” and felt like a brick wall had collapsed onto me. I felt the pricking of tears behind my eyes and my mouth grew dry at the sight. Namjoon was standing in front of the register looking smug as ever and I felt utterly stupid. 

“What’s wrong, Moonlight? Shop’s empty, looks like you’ve been having some trouble with customer satisfaction today. Wonder why.” I untied my apron and tossed it off quickly before going to the back to grab my things. Mal looked up at my sudden appearance and I spoke before she could. “You know what, you were right. Today is a big deal. I’m closing up for the rest of the day. It’s too much.” I was trembling as I grabbed my purse and walked out to avoid her concerned gaze. Namjoon was still standing at the register as I walked to the front door. He looked confused and worried but I bit my lip hard to avoid crying in front of him. 

“Hey, what’s wrong. It was just a prank I didn’t think-” I turned around to face him and pointed my finger at him. “You’re a fucking asshole you know? This is my livelihood and my everything. I could’ve maybe handled you fucking with my business any other day of the year but today it’s way too much. Whatever prank war or competition we were doing to spite each other is done. Congrats! You won. Now never touch me or my things or come into my apartment or store ever again.” The tears were freely flowing down my face but I didn’t care. 

“Wait, Moonli-” Namjoon reached out for me but I turned and opened the door before he could finish. “And don’t call me that. You don’t know me. I don’t know you. What’s the point of stupid nicknames for people you don’t really know or want to talk to ever again.” I walked out before he could stop me again, not halting until I was at my apartment. I locked the door behind me and fell onto the couch with sobs and memories of laughter and people I’ll never get back lulling me to sleep.

Coping has always been difficult for me. I never really understood that I could let out my emotions and talk about them with people without being judged or told it’s not important. It only got harder for me when my mom and sister died five years ago. I never talked about it. I avoided the emotions and my guilt and pain from that day for five years and I was only hurting more as a result. I was curled up on my couch under a fuzzy blanket with tears streaming down my face, but I didn’t feel anything besides numbness. I wasn’t struggling to catch my breath or having sobs shake my body, I was numb. I was on my couch for what felt like infinity but realistically was probably a few hours. It was dark outside and no matter how exhausted I was, I knew sleep would never come.

I heard a soft knock at my door and made no move to answer it. My phone was abandoned on the coffee table and hadn’t been touched since I first came home. I knew Mal had been trying to reach me as the vibrations hadn’t stopped all day. The knocking came again, louder this time. I took as deep of a breath that I could manage before moving to sit up. I pulled my blanket tight around my body as I walked to the door. I didn’t check the peep hole because nothing mattered to me anymore. I didn’t care.

I unlocked the door and opened it to see a worried Namjoon….I still didn't know his last name. Further proof of why he shouldn’t be here and why I shouldn’t feel warm inside that he is. He looked up to meet my eyes and his expression fell into a sorrowful one laced with confusion. I turned back around and walked towards my couch, not in the mood for formalities.

“I’m sorry.” He spoke softly yet confident as I sat down. I huffed out a laugh and shook my head. “Why are you here?” I croaked out. He took a step closer and I felt my body tense slightly. He stopped moving before answering, “Why would I be anywhere else? I hurt you and I need you to know it wasn’t my plan for that to happen.” He started to scratch the back of his neck and I sighed.

“It’s not your fault.” My voice was shaky and my eyes filled with tears. I cleared my throat and looked up at him. He looked sad and curious and I knew I couldn’t keep it all in anymore. I scooted over on my couch and motioned my hand for him to join me. He hesitantly obeyed but never took his gaze off of me. “I need to be honest.” I spoke softly. He moved his hand above my shoulder to comfort me, before moving it back to his lap. I took in a breath before speaking about something I thought would be internalized forever.

“Five years ago I lived in a small town in Colorado. I had lived there my whole life and was happy. It was just my mom, sister, and I in a small house with a gorgeous view of the mountains. Mal lived in the neighborhood with us and we’ve basically been joint at the hip since birth.” I stopped as the night came back to me. I closed my eyes tightly and Namjoon turned towards me. I don’t know why, but I reached out and grasped his hand. He squeezed my smaller one tightly before rubbing circles into the back of my palm with his thumb.

“One night, we were having a sleepover. We were 18 but acted like children so we made a blanket fort in the living room. We watched movies all night and eventually we decided to go to my room so we could sleep. We thought we unplugged everything but we were tired and there was a stupid fucking candle. My room was on the first floor but my mom and sister’s were on the second.” I felt Namjoon squeeze my hand tighter and I let out a choked sob. He pulled me into his arms and rocked me slowly.

I cried into his chest as his hands rubbed my back soothingly. After I started to calm down a bit, I pulled back a bit to look at him. “We made it out. The neighbors had already called but there was no way they could’ve made it down the stairs without being trapped by the fire. I did it. I killed them. It’s been five years today and I’ve never talked about it. So it’s not your fault, Joon. It’s all mine because I’m too much of a coward to accept what I did five years ago.”

Namjoon gently placed his hand on my face and turned it to look into his eyes. “It never has been, and never will be your fault. It was an accident. Don’t carry that guilt because it’s not true. Okay?” I felt more tears flow and he wiped them away. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m telling you all this. I shouldn’t have lashed out at you, it’s just that baking is how I try to cope. I mean I still bottled up everything so I guess it didn’t work too well but-” Namjoon cut me off with his next words. I was shocked after he did. He looked into my eyes with nothing but kindness and genuity. 

“Teach me how to bake.” 

“What?” I started to wonder if confiding in him was the right choice since it seemed that he didn’t even know how to listen to me.

“You said it helps you cope, and it clearly makes you happy. I want you to start learning that it's okay to not get over something as big as that in one conversation. And that it’s not your fault. It’ll take time. So we’re going to bake something and talk about whatever you want to until you accept that it’s not your fault. We may bake a lot of things since this is gonna take a while, but I’ll be here until that day comes. I also really want to see you be happy right now. So teach me how to bake and I’ll teach you whatever you want in return.”

I was in awe. I didn’t know why he cared so much but I knew he was right. It was going to take some time and he clearly wanted to start now. I stood up and started walking to my kitchen. He followed behind me and stood awkwardly in the doorway, looking around the array of ingredients I pulled out. It was only flour, sugar, eggs, and butter but he already looked stressed. He let out a breath and pulled off his jacket as I reached to grab some mixing bowls and measuring cups. “So what do you want to bake?” I asked him so I could narrow down the necessary tools and ingredients. 

“A cake?” He shrugged his shoulders and I smiled at his seemingly nervous behavior. “Ask me. It makes it seem more official and I like hearing you ask to be taught something you don’t know.”  He smiled before rolling his shoulders back and dramatically clearing his throat. And so he asked, “Y/N, will you please teach me how to bake a cake?” and I did.

The week following our first “lesson” was only filled with constant interaction and more lessons. At first we only baked random sweets while dancing around to whatever song came on shuffle through my bluetooth speaker. We talked about our loves and passions and sometimes we touched on my mom and sister but Namjoon would never push me too far. I knew the feelings I was starting to harbor for him were more than platonic. It wasn’t just his looks or stupid jokes or smile at my even worse jokes. I was the little things. 

It was his caring heart. ‘Teach me to bake in a bakery.’ “So why do you add that if it’s not in the recipe?” he questioned me with a slight tilt of his head. “Because it’s the secret ingredient, Joon. And if I find out you tell anyone what it is I’ll burn down your coffee shop. Okay?” His eyebrows raised and his eyes widened before a boyish grin spread across his face. “Jeez, what’s with you and fire?” I tensed slightly but before I could feel any negative emotion, Namjoon lightly touched my arm and turned me to meet his pleading gaze. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it like-” I cut him off with a flurry of giggles and my hunched over frame. “Why are you apologizing? I am really shit when it comes to fire safety.” I winked at him and saw him relax. With him around, it was okay. He cared.

It was his patience. ‘Teach me to make a beat’ “Ughhhh. Joon, I’m never going to get this right.” The throbbing in my fingertips and crease in my brow due to my frustration were evident. “Moonlight, it takes practice. And a good teacher always helps, hence why I’m here. You’re gonna get it, just try again.” He was seated next to me at his impressive studio desk trying to correctly position my randomly placed snare drum and bass sounds on the program in front of us. If it wasn’t his equipment I would have thrown it all at the wall ages ago. I sighed and sat up straighter in his desk chair before moving around some of the beats and trying again to make something that didnt sound like a middle school band warming up, or just a total cluster fuck of noises. Namjoon hummed along to the beat of the song I was “creating” and while it was incredibly off beat and by no means perfect, it was an incredible improvement. “See! I knew you could do it.” I smiled widely, matching his own. “How are you so optimistic and patient? You literally just sat through an hour of me butchering your presets with a smile the whole time.” He laughed before grabbing the instrument from my arms. “Because it’s you.”

It was determination. ‘Teach me to appreciate Shakespeare’ “Wait so Juliet is actually dead now? How did Romeo not even check to see if she was breathing?” Namjoon spoke confused. “She was in a tomb and looked pretty dead. All he knew is that his true love was dead and they were supposed to run away together.” I closed my copy of Romeo and Juliet and continued playing with his hair in my lap. “Huh. But why kill himself? And why would she do the same? Why couldn’t she just tell him her plan so that this wouldn’t have happened?” His hand gestured wildly in front of him and I looked down at his head that he had moved to my lap during the final act of the play with a smile. “That’s the tragedy of it all. They were so close to being together and running off on their own with no judgement.” Namjoon sat up at my answer and looked me in the eye as he spoke once more, “I guess you taught me how to appreciate Romeo and Juliet so congrats. But you still didn’t answer my other questions. Why would they see that the only option was death?” I looked away before answering. “I guess we all just want somebody to die for.”

It was his knowledge. ‘Teach me the best movies’ “Well we obviously have to watch The Godfather if you want to review the best movies of all time.” Namjoon had just come back to his living room with a bowl of popcorn as I settled into his couch with a fluffy blanket. “Well I’ve never seen it so I guess it wouldn’t be a review for me.” I spoke casually as Namjoon sat next to me under the blanket. He turned to me so fast I thought he might snap his neck. “You’ve never seen my favorite movie of all time? Okay we definitely need to start there.” I laughed as he pressed play. “I never watch movies. I just feel like I have more important things in life to spend my time on.” He looks offended as he processes my words. “I’m just going to pretend I didn’t just hear that.”

It was all these things about him and more. I was falling for Kim Namjoon more than I thought possible. I also finally learned his surname during a slightly embarrassing lesson of ‘Teach me your last name’. Currently we were still in our lesson about movies. Namjoon was insistent I was “educated” and no matter how hard I tried to watch the movie, I couldn’t concentrate. When I looked around all I saw was Namjoon. Namjoon’s apartment,Namjoon’s couch, Namjoon’s arm around my shoulders, Namjoon’s favorite movie playing, Namjoon’s blanket covering my body, Namjoon’s incredibly soft and cozy hoodie he let me wear, Namjoon. Thankfully my lack of concentration and stream of thoughts were broken by the man himself.

 About 10 minutes into the film, Namjoon asks a question I wasn’t expecting. “Wait so since you don’t watch movies, what did you have in the background during makeout sessions growing up?” He threw some popcorn in his mouth as I froze. He turned back to me at my lack of response. “Um, nothing?” I spoke timidly. “Wow, straight to the point, huh?” I shook my head and spoke the embarassing truth, “No I just, I’ve never been kissed. So there really wasn’t ever the chance to put something on.” I turned away from him, scared of him laughing in my face. Instead he just spoke “Bullshit. There’s no way nobody’s kissed you before.” I looked at his stupidly charming grin and said, “Well it’s not bullshit. And why are you so shocked?” He looked at me like I was stupid before stating “Because you’re beautiful.” He spoke the words like it was obvious. 

After a moment of silence, I turned my attention back to the movie playing but I couldn’t focus. I played with my fingers until Namjoon spoke softly “I can teach you, if you want” and I stopped moving completely. “But only if you’re okay with that” he blushes and hurriedly adds. I stopped his rambling though as I nodded my head with a quiet “okay”. I watched as his eyes widened. He fumbled for words a little before he moved impossibly closer and leaned in. He hesitated though and pulled away to my confusion. “You have to ask me. It’s our rule.” He says it almost playfully but the look in his eyes contradicts his playful smirk. I knew he wanted my full consent before doing anything.

 I let out a nervous laugh before uttering the words, “Teach me how to kiss.” And he does.

I dreamed of Namjoon and soft yet heated kisses that night. Waking up, I was confused to see the surroundings of his apartment lit by the soft glow of sunlight peeking through the curtains. I froze as I felt movement under my head. I was fully resting on top of Namjoon with my ear pressed to his chest and I smiled as I heard the beating of his heart. He suddenly  took in a deep breath and moved around a bit and I quickly shut my eyes, hoping to stay in this moment for as long as possible. I didn’t know how he felt about last night. Was he only teaching me as a friend? Did he feel even half of what I felt for him? 

His lips were soft as they pressed against mine and I hesitantly returned the kiss. His right hand came to cup my face softly as his head tilted slightly. I felt my heart pounding and the blood coursing through my body like electricity. I pulled away from him slowly, anxious for his next words. “Was that okay?” I spoke quietly and after a moment of silence I looked up to meet his eyes. He didn’t speak, instead he kissed me again with more emotions present than before. I placed my hands onto his chest before moving them to the nape of his neck. I played with the small curls there and felt him shiver in response. He was the one to pull away this time and he moved his hands to my hips before pulling me onto his lap. I was now straddling him and dazed at the sight of his flushed face and red lips. “You’re a natural, Y/N, and as much as I’m enjoying this I think I asked you what you played in the background when you made out with someone.”

My racing thoughts and fluttering heart came to an abrupt halt as I felt Namjoon lean down awkwardly to press his lips against the top of my head. I couldn’t help the wide grin that appeared as a result of his action. I opened one eye and turned to look up at him. He chuckled as he realized he had been caught. “Mornin’, Moonlight” He spoke in his gravely morning voice. I felt my cheeks start to ache slightly due to the size of my smile. “Good morning, Joon” I could only manage a whisper, too scared to shatter the blissful sight and moments of this morning. 

We stared at each other for a bit until the buzzing of Namjoon’s phone caught our attention. Jimin was calling him, however, he made no move to answer it until I pinched his side gently with a glare. “Not answering your best friend’s call is rude you know.” He rolled his eyes playfully before declining the call completely. “Yeah, well calling your best friend while he’s cuddling with a gorgeous girl this early is even worse.” He smirked at me and I sat up slowly while he groaned at the loss of warmth. I moved to straddle his lap and played with his soft hair while he looked up at me with a soft smile on his face. “Hey, what are you staring at, loser?” He shook his head softly and leaned into my hands in his hair.

“You.” He spoke softly with his eyes closed in bliss and a smile on his face and I couldn’t stop myself from leaning down and pressing my lips against his even if I had tried to. He smiled into the kiss before placing his hands onto my thighs and kissing me back. We moved together like a perfect symphony. A rolling wave on the ocean. Ink flowing against the page of a classic novel. I pulled away for air but stayed close to him as he moved his lips to my cheek and slowly kissed down to my neck and the sweet spot he had found the night before. 

“Namjoon” I sighed out as his lips worked against my neck sensually. I moved my hands to his hair and lightly tugged against the strands. He moaned against my neck and his teeth grazed a spot that had me shuddering and letting out a small whimper. He moved his head back up to face me. “Found it.” He stated cockily and I rolled my eyes before pressing my lips against his again, effectively wiping the smug smirk from his face. I felt his tongue brush against my lips and I decided to tease him before granting entrance. He grunted and bit my bottom lip lightly in frustration. I gasped at the sensation and he took the opportunity of my lips parting to explore the new territory.

“Joon, eventually we’re gonna have to go to work and open up for the day.” I spoke to rid my head of the memories of the night before. The groan he let out in response made the butterflies in my stomach appear. “Five more minutes” He muttered and I laughed before grabbing his phone on the coffee table to see how long we had before needing to leave before I gasped and my eyes widened. “Joon, get up. We’re so late, shit.” It was 10 AM and the shop should’ve been open two hours ago. He sat up slowly while squinting his eyes adorably. I shoved his phone into his hand and rushed off of him to head to my apartment for clean clothes. I heard a soft “Shit” as I closed the door behind me.

I bolted into my room and grabbed the first items I saw, which unknowingly included a baby pink, lace thong from Namjoon’s prank. I shoved my legs through my jean shorts and found some comfortable shoes before grabbing my keys and running out the door. Namjoon was already waiting by the elevator doors, tapping his foot impatiently. I let out a breathy laugh as I ran to meet him. He smiled at my presence before looking me up and down. He squinted slightly at the top of my head and laughed as the elevator doors opened. I patted my hair before feeling the slight knots left from not brushing it. As we moved down to the lobby I reached up to fix it as much as I could with my fingers before giving up and reaching for the hair tie around my wrist.

I lifted my arms up to gather all my hair into a messy ponytail and unbeknownst to me, my flowy top lifted up and revealed the baby pink  lace above the hem of my shorts. I heard Namjoon cough and clear his throat suddenly as my hands fell to my sides and the doors opened. “You okay, Joon?” I looked up to him and noticed a slight blush and flustered expression. He tightly smiled and nodded his head before grabbing my hand in his and guiding us out of our building. It was now my turn to blush at his sudden action and the feel of his hand in mine. 

We walked quickly so as to not be even more late to our own businesses. We approached the Hideout Cafe first and Namjoon reached into his back pocket for the keys to the shop. He kept his hand securely in mine as he tried to find the right key. He dropped the key ring onto the concrete before grumbling out some curses. I chuckled and leaned down in front of him to pick them up. I heard him choke out a gasp before I leaned back up to face him with a smile. He quickly took the keys from my hand and before I could think, he leaned down to kiss me before resting his forehead against mine and huskily whispering “I thought you threw out those fucking panties, babygirl.” He pulled back after kissing my cheek and he unlocked the shop before entering, leaving me hot and flustered on the sidewalk outside. 

The walk to my bakery after that was a blur. All I could sense was Namjoon. His whispers in my ear. His hand in mine. His shy smile full of dimples and crinkled eyes. His cologne surrounding me as I was in his arms. The taste of his kiss. The sight of his wink and smile as he walked into his shop. I barely realized I was inside the bakery until Mal called out for me.

“You okay, babe? You look pale.” I took in a deep breath before pushing her hands away from my face. “We need to talk. In the back. Now.” Her eyes widened and turned serious at my words. As I moved to the kitchen and started pacing, Mal moved to turn the ‘Open’ sign to ‘Closed’ before bolting to the back. She stood with her hands on her hips and eyed me pacing frantically before stopping me with a gentle hand on my shoulder. 

“Y/N, all you need to tell me is his first initial and I’ll find him within the week and beat his as-” I cut her off by blurting out “Namjoon and I kissed.” Her eyes widened once again and her jaw dropped before she started smugly smiling. She squealed and pulled me into a tight hug as she rambled about venues and summer versus spring weddings and I looked down at my shoes at her words. “So how did it happen? How long have you two been a thing and why didn’t I know sooner?” I sighed and looked at the excitement covering her face. “We’re not a ‘thing’ and we probably never will be. We’ve been hanging out a lot more recently and teaching each other our favorite things and last night we kissed a lot and I was on his lap and then I woke up with him on his couch and fuck, Mal I’m so scared.”

“Woah, hey what’s wrong? Did you not want him to kiss you?” I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. I really wanted him to kiss me. I really wanted to do it again. But I was really scared to admit it. I felt tears well up in my eyes and Mal pulled me into her arms and shushed my quiet sobs. “I really like him, Mal.” I whispered. She pulled back and brushed some hair out of my face before gently holding my face in her hands. “Then what’s so wrong about kissing the guy you like? He wouldn’t have done it if he wasn’t at least slightly interested in you too.” 

I closed my eyes and saw his sleepy smile and bright eyes. I opened them again and voiced my fears, “Because I’m not good enough. He deserves so much more than some broken girl who’s too scared to kiss him in public or even admit to him how she feels. I’m fucked up, Mal. He doesn’t deserve someone like me.” Mal squinted her eyes as I finished.

“Are you done? Good. Number one, you might need to brush your teeth after spewing that much bullshit. Number two, you’re completely right. He doesn’t deserve someone like you. A beautiful, strong, kind, funny, talented, amazing woman who I’m lucky enough to call my best friend. So what if you’re scared about PDA, you said it yourself that you guys aren't anything official so that’s completely understandable. And number three, you never have been and never will be broken. You’ve gone through so much and no one expects you to be one hundred percent healed or back to normal after that. You are worth so much. Okay?” We were both crying as I nodded. I was lucky to have her.

“You’ve been so happy recently and I honestly feel dumb that I didn’t realize why sooner. If he makes you happy then talk to him about this. Let yourself have something good because you deserve it.” I thanked her and held her tightly. “Oh and don’t think you’re off the hook. We are definitely going to talk in full detail about last night and all those times you’ve ‘hung out’ alone together.” I laughed and rolled my eyes before wiping under my eyes. 

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” 

I was cleaning up the shop after closing for the day when the bell above the door sounded. I groaned as I realized I hadn’t locked it yet and now had to deal with late night customers. “We’re closed.” I called from the back, too tired to go up front. “Aw damn. Even for your favorite customer?” A familiar voice spoke in faux disappointment and I felt the butterflies burst to life in my stomach. I smiled and walked up to the register, suddenly full of energy. 

“Bold of you to assume you’re my favorite.” I tilted my head and watched him smile as I appeared. “And to think, I was going to surprise you with a date and everything.” Namjoon shook his head and shrugged his shoulders before turning to leave. I laughed before running to grab his arm. “Well I guess I can make an exception for my favorite customer. But just for tonight.” He turned to me with a bright smile and leaned in to kiss me. I pulled away from him before he could though. He looked confused but brushed it off. 

“I need an order of your best creation.” I bit my lip and thought about what I would make before remembering the cupcakes I had made a few weeks ago. I had thankfully scribbled down the recipe and knew they would be relatively easy. “Only if I have some company while I make it.” I turned to walk into the kitchen and felt his presence behind me. I grabbed all the ingredients listed in my binder of recipes and got to work. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Namjoon picking up the binder and inspecting the page with my messy scrawl. 

“I asked for company so I had someone to talk to, not someone to snoop around and be nosy.” I smiled but never shifted my attention to him. He breathed out a laugh and moved to stand behind me. I felt his arms wrap loosely around my waist and his head rested on my shoulder. He sighed against my back and I leaned into him slightly. “Why doesn’t this one have a name? All the other pages have names at the top but this one just had question marks.” 

“I just came up with this on a whim. Didn’t really have any names in mind. I guess I just forgot to come back to it.” I spoke truthfully as I stirred the ingredients together to form a smooth batter. Namjoon hummed in response and I continued working with his arms around me. When I had to place the cupcakes into the oven I nudged his arm with my elbow and he groaned. “‘M comfy.” He mumbled and I laughed as I struggled to unravel his frame from mine. 

“Weren’t you the one who promised a surprise date?” I reminded him and saw his eyes instantly light back up as a blush slowly appeared on his cheeks. “Do you want that?” He questioned silently and scratched at the back of his neck. I closed the oven and turned to face him with furrowed brows. “Want what? A surprise? Cause that’s kinda why I’m baking these-” “I meant the date. Did you want it to be a date? Because if you don’t then that’s fine too.” He cut me off with nerves lacing his words. 

“Yeah. I would love that. Why did you think I would say no?” I questioned with a matching blush on my face. “Well you just, you kinda rejected me up front when I tried to kiss you so.” I looked down in embarrassment before taking Mal’s advice from earlier. “I was just scared.” I paused and looked up to meet his eyes before continuing, “I really like you, Joon. I just didn’t want to get my hopes up by kissing you if you didn’t feel the same.” I played with my fingers anxiously as I waited for his response. He smiled largely before finally breaking the silence. “You don’t have to be scared, Moonlight. Cause I really like you too.”

When I finished up the cupcakes we packed them up and walked hand in hand to our date. I was giddy as we swung our hands between our bodies. When we stopped in front of the Hideout I was confused. “Is this your surprise? Making me another coffee at 10 PM?” I questioned him but he didn’t respond. He unlocked the door and held it open for me. I narrowed my eyes at his smug smile and walked into the dark shop. I stood awkwardly in the middle of the shop and looked around in confusion.

“Joon, I appreciate the effort but I-” I stopped speaking as the shop was suddenly lit up by the few strands of fairy lights in the corner by the reading area. I gasped at the sight. Instead of shelves of books and pillows, there were large, comfy blankets covering the entire section with Namjoon standing at the entrance holding a laptop. “I know it’s not much but I just thought it would be cute or that you would like it cause I remembered how much you liked it over here last time.” I walked up to meet him at the entrance with a large smile on my face. He looked nervous again and I couldn’t understand why. 

“It’s perfect, Joon. Thank you.” I leaned in to punctuate my statement with a short kiss before pulling back the blanket behind him to crawl into the makeshift fort. He entered a few seconds after me and settled on my right side before opening his laptop. While the shelves of books were covered on the outside of the fort, the interior was filled with the sight of them. The soft glow of the string lights and comfort of the pillows and blankets set the perfect environment for reading and I darted my eyes across the different titles in awe. 

“You there, Moonlight?” Namjoon called out and I shifted my gaze onto him easily. I raised my eyebrows and turned to face him, not realizing he had been calling for me. “I asked what movie you wanted to watch.” I felt my face flush for the millionth time that night and bit my lip as I debated on what I should answer. “Could we maybe read something instead?” I spoke hesitantly but the grin on his face as he shut his laptop eased my fears. “Whatever you want.” I smiled and grabbed the familiar title on my left. 

“Have you read this before?” I asked softly. He shook his head but never lost the small grin on his lips or diverted his eyes from mine. “Well it’s a personal favorite of mine, so get ready to experience literary genius.” I moved to get more comfortable and ended up laying on Namjoon’s chest while his hands played with my hair. 

“Chapter one.”

“Are you even listening to the story?” I questioned accusingly. Namjoon smiled innocently despite being caught staring at the side of my face for the third time in the past ten minutes. Meeting up after closing had become a routine for the two of us. He would meet me at the bakery and ‘help’ me bake something for the night ahead. Usually we get to the Hideout and read after eating a bit and get through at least a chapter or two before he distracts me with kisses or tickles. Tonight, however, Namjoon was dead set on staring into the side of my face laying on his chest. “Of course I’m listening, Moonlight. Why’d you stop?” He smirked and I rolled my eyes with a sigh before continuing.

“As he looked into her eyes he saw nothing but pain and sorrow. The guilt he felt consumed him but he had no choice. He turned away as he heard her choke out a heart wrenching sob-” I was cut off by Namjoon kissing me for the fifth time that night. I giggled lightly against his lips but made sure to keep my spot in our book. “Joon, it’s been four days and we’re still only on chapter 10 of 45. As much as I love your kisses, we need to actually read the book in order to finish it.” He moved his lips to my left cheek and down my jawline as I spoke.

I lightly pushed his head away and playfully glared at him while he pouted. “But it’s so sad. Honestly, I don’t know why she keeps going back to him and shit when he only hurts her. Guilty or not, he’s still fucked for cheating on her like that.” He reached for a leftover cupcake in the box next to him while I grinned. He let out a low moan as he took a bite and I felt my body ignite with heat. “Fuck, these are always so amazing. I can’t believe you don’t sell them anymore.” He spoke with his mouth partially full and I rolled my eyes at his boyish behavior.

“I’ve told you a million times, I can’t sell something without a name.” He threw his head back with a groan and I laughed at his frustration. “Well let’s come up with something then. It’s better than reading about heartbreak.” I sat up from my spot on his chest and faced him fully. “It needs a catchy name, that’s for sure. It also needs to hint at the surprise inside.” He licked the stray frosting around his mouth as he spoke animatedly. I took in the appearance of the man in front of me. He was in some basic sweatpants and a hoodie since after night two we had decided it was best to change into more comfortable clothes to read after closing.

“The surprise inside?” I laughed, “What, do you mean the filling?” He rolled his eyes and waved his hand in dismissal. “You know what I mean. You’re just not expecting it but it's a good surprise for sure.” His explanation brought a memory to mind.  

Sitting innocently on top of my dresser was a little note with his messy scrawl reading ‘Gotcha ;)’ 

“Gotcha.” I spoke quietly with a smile, remembering the first prank he had pulled on me so long ago. “What?” He questioned innocently, taking another bite of the cupcake in his hand while his free one came to rest on my thigh. “Gotcha. That’s what I’m naming it.” He furrowed his brow in confusion and tilted his head slightly to the side. He was silent for a bit before looking at me with hope and excitement. “Why?” He asked with fake confusion, but the giddy smile forming on his face revealed his true intentions. I smiled and sighed loudly before looking away dramatically. “I guess because it reminds me of the time a loser stole all my underwear and left me a note saying that on top of my dresser.” He laughed loudly and I turned to look at the sight of his bright eyes crinkled at the sides and his prominent dimples. 

“Fuck, you’re perfect.” He spoke softly with a look of fondness on his face. I flushed and looked down at the hand on my thigh that was rubbing soft circles. “Be my girlfriend.” I moved my head up so quickly I thought my neck would snap. “What?” I spoke in shock. “I don’t want someone else to be with you. And I really don’t want to be with anyone other than you. I know we’ve never really put an official label on anything but fuck it. So, will you?” He looked nervous but his eyes showed nothing but honesty.

“About damn time.” I spoke after releasing a breath I didn’t realize I was holding in. I grabbed his face and kissed him passionately. I was smiling widely but he didn’t mind as he moved his hand from my thigh to my waist. Our kisses turned heated as his tongue brushed across the seam of my lips urgently. I pulled back and leaned in to whisper in his ear, “I think you were right about movies. They make great background noise for making out.” His breath hitched and I watched as he fumbled for his laptop. I giggled and straddled his lap as he furiously typed in his password for Netflix.

I lightly feathered kisses onto his jaw and down his neck. I felt the vibrations as he groaned at my actions. “Fuck, how have you only been kissed for the first time last week?” I let out a breathy laugh as I sat up from my slightly hunched form. “I think I got the basics down pretty quickly thanks to my teacher. But I think I’m ready to learn something else from them.”  His eyes darkened and before I knew it I was being rolled onto my back as the opening sounds from Avengers: Infinity War played in the background.

“Babygirl, I’ll teach you anything you want to know.” He smirked as he started moving down my body.

I was sure the smile on my face would become permanent after how long it had been painted on. We didn’t go all the way but we definitely made some progress on my lessons. I was laying on the blanketed floor with Namjoon resting on my chest. I was wearing his hoodie and my sleep shorts from earlier while he was left in his sweatpants and a bare chest. I was looking at the soft lights around me while my hand was playing with the messy curls tickling my chin. The sounds of the Avengers battling Thanos in Wakanda paired with Namjoon’s soft snores was lulling me to sleep slowly but surely. 

I knew we would both regret sleeping on the hard floor of the Hideout in the morning, but

at the moment I couldn’t find it in myself to care. I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath, ready to fall asleep when a notification sounded from the laptop. I turned slightly to see what it was but suddenly felt all possibility of sleep and tiredness drain from my body. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions but I had to try and make sense of what I saw.

GM<3: i miss you:(

I tried to calm myself before overreacting. It could be a relative or someone close to him. He just told me earlier how wrong cheating was. He wouldn’t do thi- Another notification sounded and effectively cut off my racing thoughts. I felt more confident in the situation as I looked at the incoming text but it’s contents only made me feel sick.

GM<3: when are you coming over again? 

GM<3: please say soon:( you left pretty quick the other night

GM<3: i love you, talk soon <3

I felt tears threatening to spill and was confused. I thought of every possible explanation but none of them were innocent or made any sense. I was hurt. I was angry. But mostly, I was numb. The thought I was dreading the most kept circling my mind. I didn’t want to believe it but it made too much sense.

You fell for the greatest prank of all. You believed he actually felt anything for you.

I felt hot tears fall down my face while one word played on a loop in my head. A heartbreaking lullaby played like a broken record.

Gotcha.

I was frozen. I didn’t move or sleep at all that night. My body ached from the hard floor and lack of movement but all I focused on was the heartache and racing thoughts that hadn’t seized through the night. The sun started to rise and I took it as my cue to leave and head to my shop. I carefully moved and tried to remove myself from Namjoon’s tight grip on my hips. I freed myself eventually and felt hot tears welling up in my eyes. I grabbed my clothes from the day before along with my other belongings and headed to the front door.

I placed my hand on the door handle and hesitated. Talk to him. “Let yourself have something good”. I turned to look at his frame under the dim glow of the rising sun and felt the lump in my throat grow. I forced myself to look away and walk out the door before I could change my mind. I made it to the front door of my shop before breaking down and crying. I told you so. 

I wiped my tears and stood up straight before unlocking the door and walking in, determined to bottle it up and not talk about it. The faster I avoided Kim Namjoon and everything involving him, the better. I silently worked throughout the day with a tight smile and locked my phone up in the storage area so I wouldn’t see any missed calls or texts. Mal could sense something was up but didn’t push me. 

As the clock moved closer to closing time I panicked. He was surely going to come by to walk us back to his shop. “Hey, Mal? I just remembered I have to head back to my place early tonight. Do you mind closing up for me?” I spoke with a shaky voice and Mal’s questioning glance almost broke my act. “Of course. Just take care of yourself.” She spoke sincerely and I let out a breath of relief at her words. I threw off my apron and grabbed my belongings again before heading home. Namjoon would probably try to get me to read the book with him but I couldn’t face him. I walked quickly past the Hideout and his apartment before collapsing into my bed. I made sure to lock my front door and bedroom door for extra precaution.

I screamed into my pillow as I sobbed. 

This routine went on for the next three days. I started leaving my phone at my apartment after it died. I didn’t have the energy to look at it or charge it to see the messages I had waiting for me. I opened my door at 5 AM to start my new routine of avoiding Namjoon. I was fearful that he might try to come into my shop during the day but so far he hadn’t. That fear came back like a crashing wave, however, as I heard a body fall onto the floor of my apartment when I opened the front door to leave. 

A tired looking Namjoon stood quickly and sighed in relief as he saw me. He reached out to hold my face as he spoke, “Fuck, Moonlight, I’m so glad you’re okay. You haven’t responded to my texts or been at the shop when I stopped by and I was so fucking worried.” He leaned in to kiss me and I pushed his hands off me. He looked confused at my actions but I looked away as anger and hurt filled me.

“Maybe that was for a reason.” I mumbled out as I crossed my shaking hands around my frame. “What? Moon, what’s wrong?” He reached for my hand again and I turned around to walk into my apartment. I heard the door close softly and his quiet footsteps following me. “Baby, you need to let me know-” I spun around at the pet name and pointed shakily at him. “No. You don’t get to call me that. You don’t get to hear about my life or what’s bothering me because it’s you. You’re the problem for me. You need to just stop. Stop kissing me and holding my hand and looking at me like I’m the only girl in your eyes and just making me feel like I’m actually worth something to you. Stop.” I was angry. The tears flowed freely down my face and my hand fell to my side as I finished my words.

Namjoon looked down and shook his head before looking back at me. “Moon, I don’t know what I did but all of that is never going to stop. I never want to stop kissing you or holding your hand or showing you how I really feel about you. You are the only girl in my eyes-” I cut him off with a scoff “Bullshit! How can you just lie like that. I saw the texts that night Namjoon. You fell asleep and when you did you got some texts from another girl. Congratulations, you win. Once again you’ve utterly broken me.”

“What texts? There is no other girl, I promise you. Please, I never meant to hurt you, especially like this.” He was starting to tear up and his voice broke as he finished but I stood my ground. “And I would’ve believed you if I hadn’t seen the texts for myself. I hope you and ‘GM’ are happy together because it seems like you two made it longer than a few hours since you’re already in love.” He scrunched his face up at my words. “Wait. Hold on. GM?” He breathed out a laugh as he spoke. His words cut me like a knife. 

“So you used me and cheated on me and can’t even try to act serious about it? Fuck you, Namjoon.” I moved to walk past him and into my bedroom but he grabbed my arm before I could. “Wait, Moon, no. My sister’s name is Geong Min. That’s who you saw text me that night. I’m telling you the truth, you’re the only girl for me.” He turned my body to face him as he spoke with a small smile. 

I furrowed my eyebrows at his confession. “You have a sister? Wait, why did she ask you to come over and say that you left quick the last time?” He smiled largely as he spoke. “I went to her place the night I set up the Hideout for us because I had to borrow her blankets and lights. And I also needed her advice on if the date was even a good idea.” I sighed and hugged him close to me. “I’m a fucking idiot, I’m so sorry, Joon.” 

He held me against him tightly and moved us side to side. “You’ve always been more than enough for me. You are worth so much to me and to everyone you come into contact with. I know it’s scary to have these feelings, because, Moon, I’m fucking terrified too. But I promise you that you’re all I want. I never want to hurt you and I never want to see us like that again. You’re more than worth it, Moon.” He pulled us slightly apart as he looked into my eyes for his final words and I felt tears welling up again as I smiled.

“You deserve better than someone who can’t love you back the way you need to be. I’ve never felt like this and I know it’s too soon to say I’m in love with you but I know for a fact that I’m falling.” I spoke softly. He smiled and leaned down to press his forehead against mine while I closed my eyes. “Ask me, Moonlight.” He whispered. “Ask me to teach you how to be loved.” He pressed his lips to my forehead then moved down to press a kiss to each cheek and the tip of my nose before pulling back to look in my eyes and wait for my answer.

He returned the smile that grew on my face and laughed as he leaned down to kiss me properly after I spoke softly,“Teach me how to be loved, Joon.” 

And he did.

#bts #bts fanfiction #bts rm #bts fluff #fluff #fanfiction #bts reactions #bts imagines #bts scenarios #kpop #kpop reactions #kpop imagines #kpop scenarios #namjoon x you #kim namjoon #bts namjoon #namjoon x reader #bts x reader #namjoon fanfiction #namjoon reaction #kim namjoon scenario #namjoon scenario #namjoon fluff #kim namjoon oneshot #kim namjoon x y/n #writing #Namjoon