#no the job was not related to cookie decorating in the slightest

[eccentricverbicide]

I had a job for 2 months in 2019 and all I did at work was watch cookie decorating videos all day everyday. I didn't get fired but probably should have

[padfootagain]

Christmas For A Lifetime

Here we go for another request for my winter event! Thank you for your request, anon, I hope you enjoy this!

The following prompts have been asked for our dear Ben Barnes:

22. "Are you trying to kiss me?"

27. "We should bake more cookies."

43. "Let's spend Christmas together, and New Year's Eve… actually… actually let's spend every single evening together for the rest of our lives."

53. "Can I have a hug? And a cookie? I'd really need a cookie right now."

Hope you all like this little fic! There is nothing but pure fluff in here. So much cute shit, guys, even I am blushing!

Pairing: Ben Barnes x reader

Word count : 1840

Carols were shaking the air around your home in a soft melody. Something sweet and warm that never failed to make you feel peaceful. Next to you, your Christmas tree stood proudly, now fully decorated with garlands and baubles and blinking lights. It was the first time that Ben and you decorated a tree together, and it just felt so good to do so…

Ben and you had met three years before, but at the time he was about to leave for six months to shoot a movie. You had exchanged your phone numbers anyway, but without much hope that two strangers who barely felt attracted to each other would be able to make any kind of feeling grow while thousands of miles separated the them.

You couldn't have been more wrong.

Long conversations through entire nights had become a repetitive pattern that coloured your whole life. You loved to listen to all the stories from the set he told you, you adored the way he listened to you complain about your day or laugh at something good that had happened to you, his humour never failed to make you smile. He was kind and sweet and smart, and all of a sudden, all you could see was how happy you were whenever the two of you talked, and not the many miles that kept you apart.

You had fallen for him way before he was back to your hometown. You had fallen for his sweet nature way before you two shared your first kiss under a lamppost while it rained.

He had fallen for you way before he could hold your hand across that restaurant table. He was already in love with you when that shy smile on your lips had made his heart swell with joy and fondness.

Some of your friends described your relationship with Ben as a 'friends to lovers' kind of relation. But you were not certain that it was true. Yes, you had learnt to know him through a cell phone, but it didn't mean that the feelings you had developed for him during that time had ever been friendly. And he had confessed to you a while back that he had never seen a friend in you either. He had leapt from stranger to love without taking a step through friendship, and you had done just the same.

And now, there you were, decorating your Christmas tree in this flat you both lived in.

You heard Ben humming along to the Christmas song, and you couldn't help but feel tenderness invade your whole body at the sound. His voice was always so warm and soothing…

You saw him take a step back away from the tree, a focused expression upon his face.

"Hmm… I think this tree looks fabulous! Not to over-compliment us but… we did a very good job!" he grinned.

You laughed at him, before joining him further away from the tree. And you had to admit that the colourful tree looked very good.

"It does look quite good," you admitted.

"It's a masterpiece, Y/N!"

"If you say so," you laughed at him again.

"But now, I'm afraid, we'll have to clean up all this mess," he sighed at the sight of all the boxes and other stuff randomly thrown across the room.

You moaned at his remark, wincing.

"No… let's take a break!"

"It isn't going to be more pleasant after a break."

"It can't be less pleasant," you fired back. "I need to find back my strengths anyway after all that energy spent on decorating that tree."

Ben merely laughed at you.

"And what would you need to get your strengths back then?" he inquired.

"Hmm…" you thought for a moment before opening your arms wide. "Can I have a hug? And a cookie? I'd really need a cookie right now."

Ben laughed at you again, before stepping into your embrace and holding you close to him as well.

"I think we still have a couple of cookies in the kitchen," he mumbled, burying his face in the crook of your neck while you ran your fingers through his dark hair.

You took a sharp intake of breath as he dropped sweet kisses up from your neck to your ear, his stubble leaving a tickling feeling all across your skin.

"Sounds good," you breathed, and he chuckled at the low sound of your voice.

"Good to hear that I still make you feel this way," he smirked.

He leaned towards you to drop a kiss on your lips, but you playfully pulled away.

"Are you trying to kiss me?" you teased him, making his eyes turn darker than before.

"I was… but clearly you've decided to torture me."

"Aww… poor Ben…"

You pushed him away, laughing, and walked to the kitchen to eat these cookies you yearned for.

But you found out that there were only two cookies left, one for you, and you gave the second to Ben.

"I want more," you declared, your words distorted as you were still chewing on your food. "We should bake more cookies."

Ben exploded with laughter.

"So, you are too lazy to clean up the mess in our living room for now, but you are up to make a mess in the kitchen as well?"

You shrugged.

"It's easier to make the mess than it is to clean it up," you fought back.

"You do know that we will have to clean everything up after we're done baking, right? So it means more efforts in the end."

"But I want cookies."

And the look you gave him told him that your decision was final. You wanted cookies, and you would have cookies.

He merely laughed, looking at you with amused eyes shining with tenderness, before he would help you to bake. And eventually, after traces of flours decorated both yours and Ben's cheeks and several chocolate chips had been eaten instead of being put in the cookies, you placed your food in the oven.

You cleaned up the living room while the cookies were being cooked, and eventually, you both settled with your freshly baked cookies and some warm tea on the sofa, your Christmas tree shining nearby. The smell of chocolate and sugar filled the room. The shushed melody of Carols was still playing. You cuddled in Ben's arms, your eyes drifting towards the decoration you had scattered across the room to enlighten the furniture. And you smiled at the sight, warmth spreading through your body because of the happiness that oozed from them.

You felt Ben shift under you though, and you recognized the nervous gesture immediately. A frown crossed your brow, and you looked up at him as he lied on the sofa with you.

"Ben? Is everything okay, love?"

He nodded, giving you a smile.

"Of course, why?"

"I don't know… you seem a bit… off…" you answered cautiously, taking care in your choice of words.

"I'm fine. I just… I was just thinking…"

He heaved a frustrated sigh. He wasn't sure how to find the right words, and now he needed them so desperately.

He looked for them, the fickle things, for a moment. But as he could only admit that they seemed to slip through his fingers instead of lingering on his tongue, he decided to speak his mind bluntly. If he couldn't say all that he had to say with delicacy, at least he would do so with honesty.

"What about we celebrate Christmas together?" he asked quietly.

You frowned a little at his question.

"I thought that you were going to your parents' with your brother."

"I'd rather be with you."

You stared in his dark eyes, but could only see truth in these two orbs you adored.

"I just…" he went on, stuttering in this adorable way he always did when he was nervous, and you couldn't refrain a smile at the sight of his cheeks reddening slightly as he blushed. "I love you, you know I do. And I… I want to spend Christmas with the person I love the most on this Earth."

You grinned at his words. You knew that Ben loved you, and you often told him about the way you felt for him as well. But this was another kind of declaration, and you knew it.

"Actually… I've been thinking about us, for a while now and I think… I think what we have is… it's bigger than us. I mean… It's not the kind of thing that we could live without. At least, I couldn’t. And I just want…"

He raised his hand to cup your cheek, his thumb brushing your cheekbone in a soft caress and his eyes intensely staring at you. His gaze was too magnetic for you to have the slightest hope to look away, your very soul seemed trapped into the two brown orbs that were fixed on you.

"I want to spend all my time with you," he went on in a whisper shaken by emotions, tears wetting his eyes." So let's… Let's spend Christmas together, and New Year's Eve… actually… actually let's spend every single evening together for the rest of our lives. What do you say? A lifetime coming home to see me? A lifetime spent cuddling together under the covers after a rough day? A lifetime spent fighting over which Hamilton song is the best. A lifetime spent decorating Christmas trees and getting too lazy to clean up the mess. A lifetime… a lifetime together… Wouldn't you like that?"

He stopped, waiting for a response. But your brain couldn’t fully understand what was going on just yet...

"Are you… what are you asking exactly, Ben?" you asked back in such a fragile whisper that your words barely passed your lips, and Ella Fitzgerald's warm voice singing a merry Christmas almost swallowed them whole.

He reached for something in the back pocket of his black jeans. A tiny velvety box. And you knew what was inside before he opened it to reveal the delicate circle of gold hidden inside.

"Would you marry me?" he whispered in your ear while your eyes couldn’t be torn away from the ring Ben was offering you.

A million emotions coursed through your heart and blood, and a thousand thoughts passed through your mind, but there was only one truth in all of this, and you didn't hesitate when you spoke it out loud.

"Yes, Ben. Yes…"

You both started to cry out of joy, your lips forming grins bright enough to lighten a whole galaxy, and when he slipped the ring around your finger, you realized that he was right.

You knew then, as he pulled you down to him to press his lips against yours, that it would always feel this way… warm, safe, peaceful, happy… you knew that he would make sure that your life would always be that way, for as long as you were with him.

You guessed that it would feel a bit as if Christmas lasted for a lifetime…

******************************

Tag list : @geeksareunique @giggleberts @sad-orange-thoughts @alinnamslow @madamrogers @benbarnes-world @ladyblablabla @drinix @joelynnp @wearetalkingtoyou @mxrihollxnd @rockintensse @newtstarmander @iammadeofstarsandlazyness @presstocontinue @ilmiopiccolounivers0 @ponycake27 @jbluevelvet @notkeppeki @horsesreign @xinyourdreamsx @daynight-dramer-stuff @fudgeflyss @stuckupstucky @snek-shit