#bake 6 pies

[jadeblazeit]

This week is supposed to be relaxing. I told my therapist about everything going on rn and she told me to stop being logical and freak out if I need to. She said she was stressed hearing me talk about it.

[theoptimisticdaydreamer]

Who brings PIE to a picnic?!!! Who?

Do the judges not realize that a key element of a picnic is getting to the location of said picnic which means transporting your food.

Who on earth is transporting pies and mini cakes???? (One pie let alone SIX) Especially if the mini cakes aren’t really that mini!

Another element of a picnic is stress-free food that you don’t really need utensils for. A giant ass pie that needs to be portioned between multiple people —and is not a hand pie that can be eaten in a couple of bites by an individual person— is guaranteed mess and not under that category.

The finger sandwiches are the only thing that make sense in this context.

What is thissssss

I am strongly doubting that Paul and Prue have ever picnicked in their lives.

[the-cooler-king]

Sometimes u can't stop being weird. My coworker (who is still training me) just called me two times to walk her through cheesecakes and im sitting on the phone trying to manifest beside her. She sends me pics and a video. Im like bro its beautiful. We just bonded over this cheesecake experience bc I truly never thought I would be able to bake a sexy little cheesecake because I'm bad at baking sweet potato/pumpkin pies. When u bake u bake I guess

[anyroads]

OK you know what, if we're gonna talk about Bake Off then fuck it, let's do this.

It used to be this wholesome, lovely show! We used to watch it for the bakers! And the learning! And the light banter and occasional bit of coy innuendo! What happened?

Channel 4 happened. When they bought the show they made a number of changes, most of them Not Good™️. Not just in the sense of them resulting in a lot of 😬 and 🫠 moments, but in the sense of how they changed the show's purpose, atmosphere, and brand.

Look, I know most people are just like, "whatever, it's just a baking show," and yeah, sure. But it's one of the UK's most successful TV exports, and where it once shifted the tone of reality competition to being wholesome and supportive of contestants, it's since moved towards creating tension at the contestants' cost. So aside from the fact that most people watching it signed up to watch a nice show, it has also shifted the goalposts of what that even means. And that, lovelies and gentlefolk, is some bullshit.

I decided to break my rant analysis into four main parts: theme weeks, the hosts, the judges, and the bakers. Let's get to it!

Theme Weeks:

If you watch Bake Off, you know the show's always had a specific theme for each week. The staples that come up in most seasons are:

cake

biscuit

bread

pudding/dessert

pastry

patisserie

Less common but consistent are things like caramel and chocolate week.

Then there are the fun episodes! When GBBO was on the BBC, this started out with things tea week, tarts, pies, tray bakes, basically little tangents still focused on emphasizing specific baking skills. In Series 6 (still on the BBC) they had their first nation-focused theme week with French week -- fairly innocuous given that a lot of patisserie is French, France and England share much more culture than either cares to admit [Norman Flag dot gif], and it was a nice change from watching Paul make the bakers do recipes that involved boiling things while talking about how wonderful boiled doughs are (are they, Paul? Are they?).

The show kept mixing it up with innocuous themes like advanced dough and alternative ingredients weeks, European cakes, Victorian week, batter week, and botanical week. And while it was frustrating to watch Paul Hollywood mispronounce things like the Hungarian Dobos Torta and lecture bakers on babka when he clearly knew nothing about it (or about Jewish baking in general, go off Past Me), the show's general attitude was that the judges had their own opinions, which were separate from the immutable facts around the chemistry of baking (more on this later) and shouldn't affect how bakers are judged.

After the show moved to Channel 4, the number of themed weeks increased and more of them focused on specific countries. In 6 seasons on the BBC, there were only two country-focused theme weeks, and in 5 seasons on Channel 4 there have been five. And while they've also had themes like vegan baking, roaring 20s, the 1980s, spice week, etc. the show has really started to go hard on exoticizing other cultures in outright disrespectful and racist ways. There's been Italian and Danish week, German, Japanese (it wasn't, it was East Asian week), and now Mexican week (which doesn't touch on interspersed Jewish bakes that didn't get a theme week, like versions of bagels and babka set as technical challenges that were borderline hate crimes and mansplained by a guy who has no idea how to make either and once wrote in a cookbook that challah was traditionally eaten during Passover). Each time the hosts played up the theme with racist bits and jokes that can be used as evidence in court if your case is "why should shows with scripted content have a professional writing staff."

Which touches on other issues the show has now...

The Hosts:

When GBBO was on the BBC, the show was hosted by ✨Mel Giedroyc✨ and ✨Sue Perkins✨. They encouraged the bakers! They'd hold stuff for them sometimes! They were interested in them! If a baker had a breakdown, they would start singing copyrighted material to render the footage unusable! When the show moved to Channel 4, they left, though I'm not unconvinced that Channel 4 offered them impossible to accept contracts to force them out so they could rebrand the show. They replaced them with Sandy Toksvig and Noel Fielding. Sandy was a lovely host in the vein of Mel and Sue, and she and Noel had a relatively sweet rapport, but she left a few seasons ago and was replaced by Matt Lucas.

Noel Fielding is mostly known for his quirky brand of comedy, a sort of British Zooey Deschanel who's goth from the neck up, an upperclass British gay divorcee from the neck down, and basically an early 60s Beatle re: trousers. Matt Lucas has almost definitely never watched a single episode of GBBO and his most redeeming quality is his thinly veiled contempt for Paul Hollywood.

The two treat the baking tent as their personal playground. Far from the supportive attitude of Mel and Sue, they tend to get in the bakers' way during the most stressful moments, especially when they try to do hilarious "comedy" bits (I can't not put that in quotes) like Noel's talking wooden spoon thing, or Matt talking over Noel to do time calls. During theme weeks like Japanese and Mexican week, they do culture-specific bits that are both racist ("just Juan joke" and "is Mexico a real place?") and unsurprising, given that both Matt and Noel did blackface on their respective sketch shows and absolutely could and should have known better because it was already the current fucking century.

All this to say, there's now a separation between the bakers and the hosts, as if they're on different shows. The hosts are doing their own thing and the bakers are doing GBBO. The show has gotten meaner to the bakers, and the hosts aren't there to support them anymore, they're just there to be comic relief. Because when you refocus your show on stressing the bakers the fuck out, you need a forced laugh I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

The Judges:

First of all, a sincere congratulations to Paul Hollywood who managed to squeeze I jUsT cAmE bAcK fRoM mExIcO aNd YeT sTiLL pRoNoUnCe PiCo De GaLLo As 'PiKa De KaLLa' and I aM aN eXpErT oN s'MoReS wHiCh aRe MaDe WiTh DiGeStiVe BiScUiTs AcCoRdiNg tO mE, aN eXpErT oN s'MoReS, just two in a giant pile of astoundingly wrong hot takes, into a short enough time span that they all aired within Liz Truss's term as Prime Minister. A true man of accomplishments.

In the interest of fairness, I need to preface this with a disclaimer that, due to the fact that I've been watching Bake Off for most of its run, I'm biased. Specifically, I can't stand Paul Hollywood's smarmy, classist, egomaniac ass because he's proven time and again he's more interested in looking smart than actually knowing what he's talking about. Since the show moved to Channel 4, they've changed the occasional handshake Paul would give bakers to the HoLlYwOoD hAnDsHaKe™️. It's gone from being an emphasis of someone's skill to a goal, a reward, and one that emphasizes the judges' place above the bakers.

The judges used to function as teachers, imparting their skills and insights to the bakers. When the show was on the BBC, the voiceover leading to a judging would focus on the bakers' work being finished, saying how it will now be evaluated based on their skill and how well they met the brief. The voiceovers now, on Channel 4, focus on the judging (literally saying something along the lines of, "the bakers will now be judged by Prue and Paul"). There is a clear distinction Channel 4's producers have made, to mark that the show is now about whether or not the judges approve, not whether the brief was understood and executed well. On the BBC, it was irrelevant whether the judges liked a particular flavor, as long as the bake was well-made. Now, the bakers are expected to know the judges tastes and cater to them, which is frankly bullshit. A judge doesn't have to like a flavor to know whether or not it was executed well, ie. is it carrying a bake and was it meant to etc.

The judges have been turned into a brand. Cynically, Channel 4 knows that by building them up and focusing the show more on them, they can exploit their image more for profit. In the process, they've become much more biased and their own biases have come out as well. Most recently in the flaming dumpster fire that was Mexican Week, Paul Hollywood tried to intimidate a baker by telling them he had just gotten back from Mexico (which must have been a fruitful learning trip if he couldn't even learn how to pronounce pico de gallo correctly). Where do I even start with this? Here's an amateur baker from England (the show specifically casts middle and lower middle class bakers for the most part??) who likely can't afford trips to Mexico, who lives in a country with incredibly limited access to Mexican cuisine, who is expected not only to understand the cooking and baking traditions of a completely different culture but to do so well enough to play with it and do something creative with it. On top of which, one of the judges is now using his privilege of traveling halfway around the world as some kind of leverage, as if this were a bar that any amateur British baker could clear.

Prue, meanwhile, has openly asserted her biases against cultural flavors and textures, prioritizing her own personal preferences over them, as if they were in any way relevant to the skills and knowledge necessary to execute the tasks she sets to the bakers. She has also been consistently elitist, criticizing bakers for choices they made that were clearly informed by their experiences within income brackets that are too low and foreign for Prue to comprehend. She once had a go at a baker on a Christmas special because his Christmas dinner themed bake didn't have a turkey, even though it was clear from the stories he shared of his own Christmases that his family likely couldn't afford one. "It's not really Christmas dinner without a turkey," Prue said into the camera angrily while sitting on a chair made of live orphans and telling the ghost of Christmas Future to come back when he had another museum gift shop necklace for her to round out her collection.

The show is no longer about which baker has the best skills. It's become about which mortal can appease the gods of Mount Olympus, ie. the judges.

The Bakers:

Remember when the show was about them? Channel 4 doesn't! Because this is a reality competition show, the bakers are chosen both based on their skills, as well as cast-ability. They're cast as characters, distinct from each other, from different areas, age groups, ethnicities. All of them are amateurs. All of them are middle or lower middle class. They've ranged from college students to supermarket cashiers to prison wardens to scientists.

Something I noticed when the show moved to Channel 4 is that the baker who goes home in the first week is always wildly behind the rest in skills. I have no proof of this other than my eyeballs and deductive reasoning skills, but I think that Channel 4 deliberately casts a ringer each season who they think will be an easy send-off in the first week, just to get the audience's feet wet.

Anyway, like I said, this show used to be about the bakers - about them building skills and learning, and having walked into the tent with a self-taught foundation and understanding of the processes and chemical reactions involved in baking. When the show was on the BBC, the end of each round had some (often brief) moments of tension - will they finish in time? Will they get their bakes on the plate before time is up? Did they forget to add sugar to their batter and only remember at the last minute? In the end, they usually managed to finish and we'd all breathe a sigh of relief and think, yeah! You go, Bakers Who I'm Rooting For!

Now, on Channel 4, the end of round drama has been stretched to be so much longer that they've composed extra music for it. The bakers often seem out of their depth, whether because the instructions for the technical challenge are too vague (bake a lemon meringue pie??? As if anyone in the UK under the age of 60 has had one in the last decade???), or because they were expected to bake something that required a more than a basic foundation they weren't told of. Often it seems like they just aren't given enough time, a tactic used by reality competition shows to manipulate contestants into giving the cameras more dramatic content. On top of all this, the hosts get in their way, instead of helping them plate their bakes. As has been pointed out before, when everyone fails the challenge, the real failure lies with whoever set it.

In conclusion:

The show no longer exists to teach the bakers - and the audience - skills or knowledge. It now manipulates contestants for dramatic effect and prioritizes showing conflict over wholesome content. Channel 4 sees the bakers as social media content they can churn out season after season, and don't care about them because in a few months there'll be a new batch to exploit. Meanwhile, the judges are also out of their depth, co-opting recipes from other cultures and butchering them horrendously, while the camera gives them nothing but status as they hold bakers to the expectation that they learn how to make things very much the wrong way. If you saw any of the tweets about Mexican or Japanese week, or read my post on how Paul Hollywood isn't allowed to go near babka ever again, you'll understand.

So what would fix all this? Scrap the current judges and the hosts altogether. Bring back Mel and Sue, and replace the judges with expert bakers who have a love of their craft and want to share it with others. The draw of GBBO used to be its warmth and comfort - if Channel 4 isn't going to start its own version of Master Chef For Bakers, then it needs to stop trying to find a balance of how it can insert that vibe into GBBO. It can't. That's not a thing. Stop trying.

[paddlescuddlesbubblesgurgles]

so around the start of the summer I ate literally as much as my body could possibly handle every day, every meal. I got in the habit of gorging myself until I could hardly breathe, could not stand or sit or even lay down comfortably, and my belly was aching. I couldn’t even sleep, nor could I really do much of anything but sit there helplessly and gasp or groan at how big I’d gotten, and how full I’d become. This was exactly what I wanted.

I was consuming between 7000-12000 calories a day during this time. This lasted about 2 months or so, maybe 10 weeks. I rarely took a break, and this had…intense consequences on my capacity. I routinely ate things like: entire family sized dinner portions for each component(vegetables, starches, meats). Family sized fast food meal deals(usually about 5 combos worth). 7-8 combos from various fast food places(usually their entire menu). Party sized or tailgater tray offerings from restaurants(usually enough for 10-15 people).

I cannot become full now. No matter what I do, if I’m not eating literally family sized portions, I’m not filled. I can become comfortably satiated after 3-4 meals at once, but my belly constantly yearns for more.

I finally have started experiencing some of the crazy ‘feedism fantasy’ tropes I thought weren’t real (or at least greatly exaggerated due to ya know…writing lol). Things like

I literally can get hunger pangs WHILE MY STOMACH HAS A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF FOOD INSIDE. I’m talking I’ve already eaten a heavy plate that is literally 3-4lbs of food. Gone. Inside me. But my belly has the NERVE to growl around it and demand more food.

Sometimes I become anxious when the only amount of food available to me is a normal serving size (this is honestly the hottest. I’m talking whiny, worried, needy feelings because I only got enough food for 1 person.)

i crave eating 24/7, or for long periods. I catch myself daydreaming about sitting down with enough food for a large gathering, and stuffing it all inside myself for literal hours. I’m not kidding, I want to eat for 6-8 hours straight of almost nonstop consumption. I just want to sit down, lean back with my gut supported by my lap or my couch, and stuff it so completely full. I would prefer if my primary activity for the day was eating.

hunger and arousal are now so completely linked I almost cannot experience one without the other…which means I’m hungry and horny pretty much unceasingly. Constantly my mind goes back to sex and eating. I’m literally just daydreaming in the background about when I will get to open my mouth next.

I’ve now eaten many of the feeding fantasy portions. Family meals, party trays, entire cakes, multiple entire pizzas, entire trays of baked goods, entire boxes of cakes, a box of donuts, entire pies, and generally levels of excess that I can only describe as obscene.

This has caused me to really fatten up. I gained 40 or so lbs from the end of March to the middle of July. I also happened to do this without an encouraging, physical, coercive or forceful feeder, which means if I were to have these (what I desperately crave), I imagine I would reach new capacity heights. I primarily eat for fullness. I love that food drunk fullness feeling where my entire body stops functioning properly. I love feeling like all I can literally do is let my belly do its thing and process all the food I gave it. I’m desperate for it. I constantly crave it. The weight gain is an unintentional but welcomed side effect of my incessant gorging.

I cannot wait for my next opportunity. I have so many ideas. Will I finally try 3 pizzas? Will I try to eat more foot longs than I am tall? Will I make myself an entire family banquet and then greedily try and eat it myself? I need to do it soon. I can’t keep eating enough for 6-7 people each day…I need more, and I need it all at once.

[vaspider]

Hey, I have a slightly cheeky request - I happened to come across your answer on mediachomp about the history of American recipes. I don't know if you remember it, it must have been at least 3 years ago. Anyway, you described why recipes in America in the 50s/60s were so Jell-O-heavy and horrible.

Firstly, thanks for the history lesson, I found it really interesting!

Anyway, you also talked about your grandmother and how she made 2 pies for dinner every day of the year. And that you have all her recipes 😉

And idk - I love to cook, I love to cook traditional recipes from all countries - and this short description of your grandmother has given me appetite 😅

Would you mind telling me 1 or 2 of your favourite recipes?

Well, first of all, that's... not my post. That's a media aggregator that is actually stealing my words and @steampunkette's & @thestuffedalligator's and putting ads on them and making money off of them. I don't know how the others feel about this but this is just wholesale theft for the purpose of making ad revenue, and while it did direct you back to me, most people don't actually come back and interact with writers when our words get hijacked for the direct ad revenue benefit of others.

I'm not angry with you about this - I'm explaining. Taking a whole long thing someone wrote and just going "hunh, interesting," at the start and then making revenue off of it isn't actually okay. A lot of writers file a lot of DCMA takedown notices over shit like this. So, like, thank you for letting me know, but this isn't a fun positive thing to find out. It's... annoying.

Anyway, I'm not doing a lot of baking or cooking at the moment because I had a hysterectomy 9 days ago, so, have a low-spoons recipe.

1 box Trader Joe's gluten-free gnocchi

3 medium Tupperware containers (mine are 8" x 4" x 2") with airtight lids

6-8 T butter, divided into thirds and cut into chunks

Parmesan cheese, grated (green-bottle shake cheese works great)

Onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and other herbs (parsley, sage, thyme, oregano) to taste

A small bag of spinach

Boil gnocchi. While it's boiling, divide the butter and spinach between the containers. Tear the spinach roughly. Add seasonings and shaky cheese to the containers. Put at least 1/3c shaky cheese in there, maybe 1/2c. Trust me.

When the gnocchi are done, drain them and immediately divide them between the containers. Put the lids on loosely, put all 3 containers in the microwave at once if you can, and microwave for 30s. This is just to make sure the butter fully melts during the next bit.

Close the lids firmly and shake the everloving shit out of them. Preferably don't do this all yourself, give the other 2 containers to whoever else you're feeding and let them shake their own.

The starch from the gnocchi will combine with the cheese and spices and make a really easy alfredo-style sauce. The spinach will wilt. You will have a meal with carbs, veggies, and protein in about 5 minutes that feels a lot more elaborate than the work it took.

It ain't multiple pies a day, but it'll feed you.

[dollhog]

30k Stuffing day ❤️‍🔥🕷️

One of my most extreme stuffings ever. Hoping to make this the daily norm. It was strangely much easier than expected and was such a ravenous binge. My tits are gaining so much and my belly is of course ballooning. Such thick and firm fat. My stretch marks are ripping and darkening by the day, my stomach is hanging so low and is always so tight and taut. My rolls are pushing against each other and are so lard filled and heavy. My face is huge now, my double chin is touching my chest and my cheeks are starting to hang and force my lips to pout. So proud of how fat I’m getting.

It’s so thrilling how my mobility is declining, my body is getting so much more heavy to heave around and wobble about. I can’t stand up without shuffling forward and pushing myself up with my arms, then my belly pulls me forward and I have to stabilise. I haven’t had time to learn to navigate being so morbidly obese, so I really struggle to get around. I adore how I struggle and cannot wait for it to decline further.

Cal count:

6 hotdogs: 1978

Pasta tray: 2046

Pizza: 2235

Shake: 2500

Freezer pack of curly fries doused in cheese:

3320

Apple crumble: 2506

Brazilian cheese bread: 1544

4 butter chicken hand pies 1824

1 cake shake: 2500

Baking tray of nachos: 2449

Full carrot cake: 4096

Alcohol: 960

Juice: roughly 2000

TOTAL:

29,958

[staybabblingbaby]

Best Friend Protocol #9 (Bet part)

[Caution: These are not full fics, or even full parts of fics for some, these are part of my writing progress archive!]

Concept: You're Felix's childhood friend, and you and he have been planning a visit to see him for his birthday for what feels like years now. Unfortunately, SKZ is a very busy group, and the week-long vacation you'd planned for doesn't seem possible. Until Felix decides to ask his bandmates a favor...

Word Count: All images, so N/A. Unless someone wants to make these accessible but I don't really know how.

Notes: I'm back! Did you miss me? I feel like it's been ages since I posted any writing but it's only been a few weeks ^^;; @thatgirlangelb gave me this idea, so everyone say thank you <<<333 You'll be seeing that phrase a lot coming up lol. Love you my beautiful daughter <3 I actually like this one quite a bit. Seungmin is my favorite little shit i love him so much <3 Can I tell y'all a weird story? Don't judge me ok? This chapter got written bc of Banana Pie. I've been so stressed out lately I couldn't bring myself to even open my app. But my roommate accidentally ordered 3 bunches of bananas (she wanted 3 individual bananas) and they were going bad so I stole them and stress baked 2 full sized pies and 3 mini ones. It took 6 hours. I felt so much better afterwards. Anyways this one is Bet Part, but in my heart it's Pie Part. I will have to dedicate a chapter in the future to Felix baking Pie w Reader abt it.

Warnings: She/Her Reader.

Leave me comments or questions or anything! Love hearing from folks

Additional Note: I'm always taking interaction requests. Just fyi

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Worm List! ( (づ￣ ³￣)づ) @thatgirlangelb @hyeon-yi , @missvanjii, @velvetmoonlght, @hanniemylovelyquokka , @vegetablesarefuntables, @scribblesnsketches05, @kkamismom12, @alexateurmom, @baribaaari,

If your blog is in Red its bc Tumblr won't let me tag you! It looks fine when I edit it and then it doesn't like me anymore when it posts T^T

Perma Tag List: the lovely @mbioooo0000 <3

[mamirhodessxox]

😭😭 need a fic of him just in interrupting reader while baking ( reader could be a baker and trying new recipes to add to their menu )

Cherries On Top

Cody Rhodes x Baker Fem!Reader

Desc: Y/N is trying to focus on adding new sweet treats to her bakery’s menu but her husband tends to be a distraction.

Contents: Fluff, Cody being a little annoying but in a tolerable way, SMALL indications of smut, Y/N being a lil cutie Patootie!

🏷️ list: @alyyaanna @ginswife @coolpastelartshoe @greatkoalawizard @cokolin044 @kotoriarlert @alicerosejensen @bunnybot55 @agent-dessis-posts @adollonyourshelf @mini-rhodes @southerngirl41 @harmshake @femdisa @kabloswrld @claymoresofinfamy23 @jeysbvck

{~I'm very serious with you guys interacting with my writing!!!! it would make me so happy & excited, the more comments & reposts the more inspiration i have to write :) likes and comments are strongly appreciated so please COMMENT COMMENT COMMENT COMMEENNTTT the more comments the more content <3!!!~}

Before Y/N & Cody established a relationship between them Y/N had a small little bakery filled with alll sorts of sweets & treats! Once a month she would spend an entire day whipping up pies & cakes and many other scones & sweets to add on the menu at her little bakery & do cooking youtube videos & Today was that day.

Y/N was in the middle of recording in the kitchen, Cody would walk by every now and then or stand behind her and watch over her shoulder to see what she was doing. But then he became more vocal.

She was currently working on a bourbon pound cake. “Don’t you need measuring cups for this part?” He questioned while his hand ran up and down her back while his wife shrugged “I’m just gonna add like a few shot glasses worth of bourbon.” He shot open his eyes and looked over at her camera set up and shook his head dramatically “She’s gonna get me drunk with a cake.” Since he was video bombing Y/N she decided that she would put him to a little work and start stirring the cake mix while she poured bourbon into the mix very carefully & poured him a small shot as a reward which he pridefully took

Y/N was instructing her future viewers how to carefully put the mixture into the pan & how long to leave it in the oven but Cody randomly popped back into the kitchen “Check out my gun.” She looked up as he interrupted her speech & smiled “It’s a salt shooter my dad got it for him.” “Maybe next time I make steak I can season salt onto it with my cool gun yeah?” She shook her head “No because you’re gonna break something. Just use your hands.” He glared for a second and sassily shook his head “I won’t break anything.”

6 minutes later Y/N worked on another small pastry while the cake was in the oven & suddenly the lights started flickering & she laughed a little before he walked back into camera frame “What are you whipping up now?” “Blueberry crois-“ “Hold on wait I have a quick question what did 50 cent do when he was hungry? 58.” “Your not funny.” He shrugged with a smug smile “I’m actually very funny.” She hummed nodding slowly “whatever helps you sleep at night my love.” He raised an eyebrow and looked at a bowl full of flour.

Hmmmm…….

Interesting…..

What if he just….

“CODY GARRET RUNNELS GODDAMNIT I’M GOING TO KILL YOU IN YOUR SLEEP!” Y/N stood there frozen as he actively poured flour over her head while letting out a mischievous laugh “uh ohh she said the full na-“ she splashed him in the face with water “well deserved.” She glared up at him & picked up her bowl filled with yet to be stirred eggs while grinning to herself as her husband backed up and raised his hands in defense “No…Y/N….” She squinted and nodded “your right that would be to messy.” She sighed while he let out a chuckle of relief but she caved & poured the eggs all over him making him gasp and look at her while she giggled & grabbed the flour bag before shaking what remained inside all over him before he turned starring at a glass of milk that sat on the counter next to one of the bowls it was supposed to be inside of.

Eventually she gave up on the video she tried making & giggled while playfully kissing her lover while he grinned biting her lip a little & grip at her waist “You sure you don’t wanna take it any furth-“ she nodded immediately and pulled away before prancing up the stairs to get clean “C’mon Codes your filthy.”

This was just the Cherry On Top for Cody, he immediately tossed away the kitchen towel & followed behind her before giving Y/N a light smack on the butt chuckling

“The shower is your best idea yet sweetheart.”

“Pervert.”

mamirhodessxox’s Masterlist

[olenvasynyt]

Elain headcanons!

1. Has had a sweet tooth ever since she was little, and was one of the reasons why she started to learn how to bake. Before she turned 8, she already had 4 cavities. Puts WAYYYYY too much sugar and cream in her tea and coffee (and Lucien teases her for it)

2. Loves animals but is never good with them. Especially horses: a horse stepped on her foot accidentally one time and now she’s constantly on alert around horses (And they can definitely sense it)

3. Has high-functioning autism. Needs detailed instructions when given tasks, struggles with eye contact, and has sensory issues with loud noises and certain textures.

4. Doesn’t mind cleaning and doing chores and sometimes she enjoys it, but she HATES doing the dishes (it’s the autism. Wet food is a no). Wears cleaning gloves and an apron.

5. Has the huge collection of hats. Floppy sun hats, garden hats, beach hats, cloches, bonnets, etc. Dare I say berets? Modern headcanon: golf visors? She’s look so cute in a tennis outfit with a cute visor.

6. Takes care of her hair and spends a lot of time styling it in the morning.

7. Very adventurous, especially when she was young. Always looking for cool, unknown spots on the beach and in forests. Wanders away from the group a lot and they’ll find her at random places. Can be quite daring too: she once climbed a cliff just to pick a flower she spotted at the very top. Her sisters often remind her the infamous day of when she went wading in a neighboring lake and got a bunch of leeches or her ankles. Nesta spent almost an hour picking them off.

8. Does not like wearing heels. She’s not bad at walking in them, they’re just uncomfortable.

9. She loves bugs, and always tries to rescue a spider or moth that gets into the house. The only bug she hates are grubs and maggots (and leeches. The infamous lake memory is permanently engraved in her brain)

10. Kleptomaniac. Especially as a little kid.

11. Loves party planning. Is a huge fan of themed decorating and coordinated outfits. Has done a lot of surprise parties for her family and friends.

12. Gets cold very easily (Lucien 👀 you know what to do)

13. When she was little, she was always playing in nature. Made little moss huts for her toy dolls, pretended to be a witch a make nature potions with crushed berries, rain water, ears whatever else she could find, and would serve her sisters mud pies.

14. Has kept a diary ever since she was little

15. Her favorite party trick is being able to whistle with a blade of grass

[richonneevents]

Richonne Fictober 2024 Rules, Guidelines, & Calendar

Richonne Fictober 2024 is a 31 day challenge for fanfiction writers/creators to write/create and publish a Richonne-centric story or related content everyday for the month of October.

Fics should be between 100 and 5,000 words. Rick and Michonne must be the main pairing. Richonne is an interracial pairing, so be mindful of tropes and language that perpetuates racism and misogynoir. Rick is a canonically disabled character, so be mindful of using tropes and language that is ableist. Fanartists should be mindful of not whitewashing Michonne, Andre, and RJ in their pieces.

Please tag @richonneevents and use the tag: #richonnefictober24

Be sure to tag your prompt and which day you are filling.

In addition to Richonne-centric fanfiction, creators are encouraged to make fanart; playlists; edits; moodboards; rec lists; graphics; podfics; gifsets; photo sets; fanvids etc.

WEEK 1

Day 1: Making Caramel / Candy Apples

Day 2: Seasonal Shopping (Clothes, decor, etc.)

Day 3: “The leaves are changing!”

Day 4: “Pumpkin spice...what?!”

Day 5: Autumn Breeze

WEEK 2

Day 6: Overcast Morning

Day 7: Bobbing for Apples

Day 8: Pumpkin Patch Visit

Day 9: Rainy Day

Day 10: Scarecrow

Day 11: Haunted Hayride / Haunted House

Day 12: Horror Movie Marathon

WEEK 3

Day 13: Jumping in A Leaf Pile

Day 14: Warm Apple Cider / Hot Chocolate etc

Day 15: Corn Maze

Day 16: By The Fire(place)

Day 17: Candles 

Day 18: Flannel

Day 19: Nestled Under Blankets

WEEK 4

Day 20: Festival 

Day 21: First Frost

Day 22: Kissing In The Rain

Day 23: Baking Pies

Day 24: Cemetery Stakeout 

Day 25: Black Cat

Day 26: Dead-End

WEEK 5

Day 27: Underneath The Sky

Day 28: Full Moon

Day 29: Carving Jack o’ Lanterns

Day 30: Costume Party

Day 31: Trick or Treat

[silverthelovebug]

Yasammy Week ~ Day 6: Baking

Yaz peeked at the pie sitting in the oven, the smoke still lingered in the air from her last attempt at baking, though Sammy had opened the windows and left the back door open to hopefully air out the smell. It seemed to be a curse in the Fadoula-Gutierrez household that someone would forget they were baking a pie and it would end up burning to a crisp. Apparently it happened to Sammy enough that it became a tradition to make a back-up pie. Yet, It was always worth it in the end when she had that first bite and she got to see Sammy’s proud face.

@yasammyweek

I’m just realizing now that the text boxes make it look like Sammy speaks first and. Um. Definitely not what you’re supposed to do in comics !!! I feel like Sammy has a love/hate relationship with pies, she absolutely hates the baking process but she likes it as a distraction or when she’s making it with/for someone. Yaz cannot bake. She can cook really well! Just not bake ,,

Don’t hold me accountable for how tall/short they are in relation to their kitchen because umm 💔💔💔

[feyburner]

im the sponge cake/baking amateur anon and omg thank you so much for your words and recipes!!! i will definitely start making little things and try not to freak out and instead embrace this new hobby with all its fluctuations…i will definitely keep coming back here for questions and recipes if you don’t mind 🫡🫡🫡

Of course, anytime. Don’t worry, just start with the basics and build from there. It gets easier and more intuitive every time you do it—and there are SO many types of things you can bake, you’ll never get bored. Don’t like baking cookies? Pivot to cake, pastry, pies, bread. Think about what flavors you like and find recipes that highlight those flavors.

Oh a couple more pieces of advice:

1. ALWAYS read through the ENTIRE recipe at least 2x before starting.

2. Mise en place! Gather all the ingredients together before you begin—so you don’t get halfway through only to realize you’re out of baking powder.

Here’s my recipe for Chocolate Velvet Cake. It’s a deep, dark, rich chocolate cake. Pictured here with Whipped Cream Cream Cheese Frosting, one of the only frostings I have ever liked.

CHOCOLATE VELVET CAKE

makes 2 x 8-9” cake layers

INGREDIENTS

2 cups (240g) AP flour

1 cup (200g) white sugar

1 cup (200g) dark brown sugar, packed

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt

1 cup (227g) buttermilk* or sour cream

1 Tbsp white vinegar

1 cup (200g) neutral oil

2 eggs

1 Tbsp vanilla

1 cup (240g) freshly brewed steaming hot coffee (or 1 cup boiling water + 1 Tbsp instant coffee/espresso powder)

3/4 cup (60g) Dutch-process cocoa powder

*To make buttermilk: 1 cup milk + 1 Tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice. Stir together and let sit 10 min to curdle and thicken.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease 2 x 8-9” cake pans and line with parchment paper rounds.

2. Bloom cocoa: Measure cocoa into a large liquid measuring cup (for easy pouring later). Add 1 cup (pre-measured or by weight) hot coffee in increments, whisking in between, until mixture is smooth. **If you add coffee all at once you’ll get lumps. Add a little, whisk to a smooth paste, then add rest.

3. Mix dry ingredients: Sift flour, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl (or bowl of stand mixer). Whisk thoroughly to combine. **Sifting really matters here. The final batter is very thin and if you don’t sift you will get lumps of flour.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, vinegar, oil, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. While whisking, pour in coffee-cocoa mixture. Whisk until smooth.

5. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix with a rubber spatula until just combined, scraping bottom and sides of bowl as needed to catch any dry pockets. Do not overmix. Batter will be thin.

6. Divide batter evenly between cake pans. Bake 30-40 minutes until a paring knife inserted in the center comes out moist but clean. Start checking at 30 minutes to avoid overbaking.

7. Cool in pans 15 minutes (no longer), then turn onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Let cool completely (1-2 hours) before frosting.

NOTES

- Cocoa: Dutch-process cocoa powder = the ultimate dark-as-night chocolate cake, but natural (regular) cocoa powder works just as well.

- Usually you can sub greek yogurt for buttermilk/sour cream, but not here. It doesn’t have enough fat.

- Buttermilk/sour cream + a little added vinegar react with the baking soda and cocoa powder to make a fluffy but velvety soft crumb. (Think baking soda volcano, but cake.) You cannot taste the vinegar at all.

[wings-of-ink]

Ok on a scale of one to ten how good are the RO's at cooking/baking? What's one thing each of them can cook/bake really well and one thing they can't cook/bake at all?

Oh, I love this question, Anon. I'll score baking and cooking separate. Some people, like myself, have a knack for cooking over baking. One is an art and the other is more of a science, I think.

On a scale of 1 - 10 with 10 being the best baker or cook, I'd say...

Oswin:

Cooking: 7 - He's made a lot of his own meals since he was a teen and he's learned a lot. Makes a mean roast with lots of veggies and fresh herbs. Don't ask him to prepare eggs - he never gets them right.

Baking: 6 - He can follow a recipe well enough, but is less confident. Makes a very good and simple bread to go with his roast. He always over-mixes cake batter.

Zahn:

2 for both - "What fire?" They get by making suuuuper simple food on the road. Baking a potato or making a simple porridge is probably the best you're gonna get. Everything else...is risky.

Duri:

Cooking: 4 - They can do it, but don't have a ton of interest. If it's not interesting - meh - they don't care enough. They'll cook a decent steak (as long as it's rare). They try roasting veggies sometimes and they always...kinda go on fire, but they insist that they like the char taste.

Baking: 4 or 6 depending on the day. They really like baked goods, so they have incentive. If they can focus and take their time on a simple recipe, you may be looking at some tasty treats. However, they'll be prone to frustration. The moment the dough doesn't behave - it's over. -Will make some pretty good cookies. Duri cannot make bread to save themselves - the dough drives them insane (and it's all over them, the counter, and the walls for some reason).

Rune:

Cooking: 3 - uninspired, no flavor, not enough salt - but looks great. Nothing they cook comes out especially well or bad since it's all basically the same.

Baking: Solid 7, maybe even 8. There's a pattern to baking and that suits them the best. Quite good with cake, especially if it needs decorated. Their worst is pies - fruit doesn't belong in there, they say - why would you even want gooey-squishy fruit with pastry!?

???:

Cooking: 6 - he's pretty average here. Makes decent stews and fried fish. Bad with potatoes - never gets the salt right and their either over done or raw.

Baking: 10 - no soggy bottoms here - he's an amazing baker. This is an area he can get lost in. The smell of yeast takes him home. He makes the best bread - any kind - it's his favorite. (bread is also easily transportable within pockets) His weakness, if you can call it that, is probably cookies. They are still delicious, he just doesn't have the patience to make little individual treats. You're getting one giant cookie and that's that.

Thank you for the delicious ask, Anon! ^_^

[swan2swan]

Yasammy Week Recap:

Day 1: "Hurt/Comfort"

This one was basic and simple; me just starting out. I probably could have done better, but, hey, Yaz literally comforting Sammy to calm her down from a full-blown panic attack works. As a sidenote, it's incredible that the writers had Panic Attacks be a Yaz Thing, and then brought her back to show that she's currently the Best Qualified on the team to deal with them (and fixed up her relationship issues with Sammy in the same blow, it's SO CARTOONY but perfect, I feel like we don't get these one-episode resolutions that often anymore).

Day 2: "Firsts"

This was a fun one, and probably the only one that I actually had some mental tryouts for. First kiss? First meeting? First teamup? There were so many choices...but this one felt right. Yasmina admitting that this is her first time having feelings for someone of the same sex (and the word "crushes" clearly means that Sammy's her first partner, too!).

Day 3: "Prom"

This is where things started falling apart, obviously. If we'd been given a proper five seasons with all sorts of Lost-style flashbacks and fantasies, I might have been able to pull something legitimate out. But also...Sammy said the word "prom", and also let it slip that she either loves fancy dresses or loves girls in dresses...and you know what? I count the latter as a point toward Yasammy.

Day 4: "Proposal/Engagement"

I don't remember how my brain wandered over to this, but I do know that I was lying down in bed at that time, because I literally sat bolt upright. My eyes snapped open, and I leaned up to secure all of that brain juice, as I realized the famous "Alan Grant uses two female buckles to tie himself in, foreshadowing the female dinosaurs finding a way to breed" could also have some WLW implications. It was a good joke, and you know what? As Sammy Gutierrez said: "It's beautiful, and we should be proud."

Hopefully, if the same prompt comes up next year, I can use a gif that actually includes the literal characters, and not metaphorical versions...Chaos Crew, please.....

Day 5: "Track Meet"

I think I was walking home when this one clicked in my mind, and I think I did a little hopskip and a dance. I was initially considering something like the two of them running for their lives together, or Sammy telling Yaz that she needed to rest to win gold medals in the future...but then, I thought about wordplay. I wondered if they were ever standing in dinosaur footprints, or tracking something. Then I thought about train tracks, and realized...yes. YES. This was perfect.

Had this not been available, I think I might have played with Yaz's scene where she uses running to realize her love for Sammy. Which is just a beautiful metaphor and a wonderful scene. Gifset's coming soon, by the way, I have the whole thing captioned.

Day 6: "Baking"

For every peak, there's a valley. Sometimes, you win. Sometimes, you lose. This was kind of a loss, because the girls sadly don't do any baking together. I considered the part where they're throwing the chips into the fire (TOXIC FUMES, GIRLS, DON'T DO THIS AT HOME, KIDS), but that's not really "baking". Furthermore, the Powers That Be chose to deny us any cooking escapades on the island, and while Sammy certainly bakes pies, Yaz is never present during those scenes...and, yes, I checked, and she never mentions her girlfriend while doing so, either. She only talks about her while fetching lemonade, which is different. Thus, I found myself in a sticky situation...which was kind of like the weather this month! So, it felt appropriate to use the concept of "baking in the sunlight on a hot day" here. I do like Sammy's silly little wave, and Yaz looking pityingly over at her.

Day 7: "Free Day"

This one, well...it ended on a bit of a sad note, but I was looking for something I had already set up. The caption is "Free Day", so I didn't want to put any work or effort into this. And while browsing my files, I saw that this one had the word "date", which is close to "day", and "expiration", which is the end of something, so...it felt apropos for the finishing touch on this beautiful week.

[bradshawssugarbaby]

Timeless - Bob Floyd x Reader

A/N: Literally my first attempt at a fic in forever so bare with me, but I had this idea and I couldn't not do it. Also definitely inspired by Timeless by Taylor Swift in a way so don't mind me.

pairing: Lt. Robert Floyd x reader

warnings/content: no warnings, extra cute Bob. mutual pining. lots of fluff. mild angst if you squint.

word count: 2.6k

The cool, crisp November air tickled the back of your neck as you walked down the street, orange, red and yellow leaves peppering the sidewalks, the smells of autumn air filling your nose. You frowned as you zipped your jacket up further to cover you better, the breeze sending a shiver down you. The streets were buzzing with people out and about to finish their preparations for Thanksgiving. It was still a week or so away, but, no one leaves anything to the last minute around here, especially not when it comes to homemade pies and cornbread dressing. The smell of fresh brewing coffee swirled around you as you made your way closer to your favourite local bake shop, enveloping your senses as you walked. You stopped as something - someone caught your eye. You froze in your steps as you peered in the window of the bakery, and you almost gasped in surprise at who you saw standing in line to order. A tall man, with neatly styled dark blonde hair, wire framed glasses, and the most stunning blue eyes you’d ever seen - it had to be him.

Suddenly, he turned and saw you, a large smile on his face as he waved, as if he’d just seen his long lost best friend. In a way, he had. 

Robert Floyd had been your neighbour growing up, his house was two doors down from your parents - a pretty Victorian-Queen Anne style home that sat on the corner of the street. His mother had always kept her garden looking immaculate, like something out of a home and garden magazine. He was the youngest of three kids, with an older brother and older sister who were both outgoing and popular in school - Robert had always been shy and more reserved than his siblings. 

You moved in when you were 6, just getting ready to start the school year in a new town, terrified of your own shadow. The first thing you noticed when you’d moved in, was the Floyd house and its picturesque landscape. That, and the adorable boy around your own age who’d been playing out front, and waved shyly when he saw you through the back window of your parents’ car as you drove past. For the next 12 years, you and Robert Floyd, or Bobby as you’d always called him, had been best friends - practically inseparable friends, in fact. You did everything together possible. From bike rides to church on Sundays to trick-or-treating to sports teams, everything you could do together, you did. It was as though you couldn’t function as a child without Bobby by your side, and vice versa. 

That all changed when Bobby decided to enter the Navy when he turned 18. It was the first time you wouldn’t be going to school together, and the first time since you’d met that he couldn’t be by your side if you needed him. He was leaving you, and you couldn’t help but feel some resentment towards him for it. You’d wanted to tell him the day you graduated high school that you loved him, you’d wanted to beg him to stay or take you with him wherever he was heading, but for whatever reason, you couldn’t bring yourself to do it. Something inside you had told you that it was futile - he’d always wanted to join the military, since the day you met him, and when you were 10 and he’d joined a Navy League Cadet Corps group, it was like fate had decided what he was going to do in life right then and there. You knew that no amount of love in the world shared between you two would have stopped him, and you also knew that he’d never let you give up on your own aspirations to follow him wherever he went. 

As you walked into the coffee shop, you were captivated by the smell of freshly baked pastries and roasted coffee beans, but everything around you seemed to freeze when you saw him in person - as if the whole world came to a complete standstill at that moment. God, you missed him. You didn’t even realize just how much you’d missed him over the last decade or so it’d been since you’d graduated. He rarely came back to South Carolina for visits, and you hadn’t exactly spent a ton of time in your hometown since college either, but in this moment, it was as if fate had decided again - you needed one another. 

“Kristen? Kristen Taylor, is that you?” His voice sounded the exact same, as if nothing had changed about him in the last 10 or so years. In fact, he even looked the same as he had when you’d graduated high school, even the frames of his glasses had remained the same. 

“Bobby? Wow, it’s been years! It’s so nice to see you,” You smiled fondly as he gently placed one of his large, firm hands on your arm, as if he wasn’t sure a hug was appropriate after so long.

“It’s been too long. Do you have a moment? We could sit and catch up for a few minutes, if you want to? I feel like we lost touch for some reason when I shipped out to training, and I feel like I missed a lot.” He nods sheepishly, almost as if he’s making an admission of guilt. 

“I think I can spare a few minutes,” You nod slowly, smiling as you met his deep blue eyes, “I’m home visiting from New York and just wanted to take it all in, you know? I don’t really have an agenda for today.”

“Perfect,” Robert nods his head as he points to an empty booth by the window, “I’ll wait here for you while you order.”

A few moments later, coffee in hand, you’re sitting opposite him just like you’d done so many times in this very coffee shop when you were teenagers, sipping sweet teas together while sharing a freshly baked cookie or two. He smiled as he set his coffee down and laughed softly, shaking his head as he spoke.

“What have you been up to? You said you’ve been in New York? Like the city? That’s awesome,” He appears completely invested in hearing everything you’ve been up to since he last saw you. 

“Well,” you began to unravel your recent past to him, or as much as you felt comfortable disclosing. You weren’t quite ready to share how you’d had failed relationship after failed relationship since you turned 18, unable to find any man who could compare to him or his sweet demeanor. You didn’t want to tell him that your last relationship ended mercifully as you prepared to walk down the aisle with your ex, and how you got cold feet a few months before the plans were finalized, but didn’t know why that was until today. You had told your ex you just weren’t ready - which wasn’t entirely untrue, but until Bob reentered your life a few minutes ago, it hadn’t dawned on you why you weren’t ready. In reality, it was because no one could ever be Bob. No one could ever give you butterflies like he had, or make you blush when he kissed you on the cheek after asking you to dance at homecoming when you were 15, or hold your hand so protectively as you said goodbye to him when he left for California. 

Instead, you told him how you’d gone to NYU for journalism, how you’d entered the field and loved it instantly, how writing was your passion and you loved it so, and you told him how you’d landed the ideal position, working for a major news network writing copy and scripts for the on-air hosts to read off of, working your way up the corporate food chain to make yourself a producer. You told Bob how New York winters were biting cold at times, but how the freshly fallen snow was almost romantic, and how the sight of Central Park at Christmas was stunning, no movie could do it justice. You told him how you adored the way New York had become like a second home to you, how you felt like you’d found the perfect place for you to thrive, something you’d always struggled with growing up in a small town in the south. 

Robert nodded his head as you spoke, showing deep interest in your every word and thought as you spoke. He never took his gaze away from you and never once appeared bored or as though his mind was elsewhere as you spoke - he was complete invested and hung up on your every word. When you finished, he smiled and sipped his coffee before leaning back slightly in the booth, his eyes widening slightly, the way they often had when you were growing up and he’d been impressed by something he’d read or seen. 

“Wow, you’ve done pretty well for yourself then, I’d say.” He laughs softly, “I haven’t been up to nearly as much, just different tours of duty with the navy, I became a Lieutenant, and became a Naval Weapons Systems Officer, graduated from the Top Gun program, where the top like, 1% of all pilots get called up to. I then joined a task force and did a few more missions with them. I’m still on that task force, but I applied for a leave because it’s been so long since I’ve been home and I haven’t taken a leave in probably,” Robert hums for a moment as he thinks, his cheeks turning red as he speaks, “Honestly? Probably four years. My parents and siblings usually either come to me in California, or I go to my brother’s house in Texas. I don’t often need to come here, but this year my mama wanted to host Thanksgiving, so I opted to come home.”

You noticed that, as Robert spoke, he couldn’t help but keep his focus entirely on you. It was like he was studying your every feature, in case he never got to see them again. The look in his eyes suggested that he never wanted to forget anything about you, as if he was scared that if he didn’t analyze every freckle, every hair on your head and every word that escaped your lips, he’d lose you. Like you’d fade away again, into nothing more than a distant memory. His cheeks continued to blush as he realized he’d been staring at you for longer than he had intended. He shook his head and let out another laugh, this one sounding strained, as if he was trying to cover up any awkwardness that may have arisen because of him. 

“You know, I really am glad we ran into each other again,” he nodded slowly. “You know, you’re still the only person who calls me Bobby. Nowadays, I’m always Bob or Robert, if you’re my parents,” he smiles fondly as he mentions the nickname you’ve called him since the day you met him. You decided that hot August afternoon that Bobby just suited him better. He agreed, and despite his mother’s protests that his name was Robert - it stuck. He was always Bobby to you, and he always would be. 

“Is that so? No other girls have thought to nickname you Bobby as a pet name?” You laughed as you raised an eyebrow before sipping your coffee. You found it hard to believe that he’d never found anyone else. A man as loving and affectionate as Bobby wasn’t something you found every day, you’d learned. In the past decade, you hadn’t managed to do it, despite your best efforts. 

You’d never found a man who matched him perfectly - his sweet personality, his soft spoken nature, his deep baritone voice, his laugh, the way he always protected you fiercely, but yet, always encouraged you to do whatever made you happy, and whatever you felt was best. You’d never met someone who’d rather die for you than ever see you upset. You’d yet to meet another man who’d wiped your tears when you were heartbroken or cuddle up and watch your favourite movie with you over and over again until you smiled when you were having a bad day, or meet another man who made your mother comment with, “Kristen, boys like him don’t come around too often.”. Bobby would always and forever be the only man who could meet all those expectations. 

You knew it was unfair of you, and until today, you didn’t even know why you were doing it, but no man could ever be Bobby. You’d rather spend the rest of your life alone than with anyone who wasn’t him, you’d come to notice. You just prayed he felt the same way, or that you at least could convince him that he did before he went back to California, whenever that was. 

“Nah, come on now, Krissy,” he chuckled as he used his nickname he’d always reserved for you growing up, “You know I’d never meet another girl who I’d let call me that. We could have been apart for 40 years instead of 10, and I still wouldn’t have let anyone else call me Bobby. That’s always been your thing for me. It wouldn’t feel right if someone else called me that, you know?”

“I do. I feel the same about being called Krissy. I don’t think anyone’s called me that since you left,” you nodded slowly as you let out a soft sigh, looking down at the now empty coffee cup on the table in front of you. 

“Krissy?” He said softly, his hand reaching across the table to touch yours ever so gently.  

“Mhmm?” You hummed, not wanting to meet his gaze out of fear that one look at him right now would make you crumble and burst into hysterical tears. 

“You know, I’ve really enjoyed seeing you. Do you think we could see each other again before I go back to base? I leave on Monday, I’m only here for 5 days, unfortunately,” he said quietly, gently holding your hand across the table. You can sense he has more he wants to say, but it’s like he’s struggling to get the words out.

“I think we can make that work, maybe after Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, we could go for a walk? Our folks still live two houses away from one another, so it’s not like we’ll be too far away from each other for the next few days. It’ll be just like old times.” You confirm, nodding your head reassuringly, trying not to seem too eager or excited at the prospect of seeing him every day for the next five days. 

“Sounds good,” Robert smiled warmly as he stood up from the booth, looking down at you with an excited happiness about him, “I’ll come knock on your door after dinner tomorrow then, we can go for a walk like we used to as kids, just enjoy being outside and all that.”

“I’ll hold you to it,” you laugh as you shake your head, standing from your seat. 

You smiled softly to yourself as you watched Robert head outside, walking down the street past the window of the coffee shop, his navy quarter zip sweater and dark wash denim jeans suiting him perfectly. You bit your lip to hold back a grin as he walked away. You had five days to work up the courage to tell him how you felt. Five short days. You weren’t sure how you were going to do it, but you were certain about one thing - Bob wasn’t leaving South Carolina without you this time.