#this recipe also chills really well and I’ve never found a cookie recipe where chilling the dough doesn’t make things worse untill this one

[wizardhex]

literally addicted to this gluten free chocolate chip cookie recipe I found recently I’ve made 3 batches in the past 2 weeks and you know what? I’m gonna make another

[leavesofolive]

🌞🧹🌻Hearth Witch Tips!🌻🧹🌞

04: Your kitchen eats with you!

Just like with the rest of the house, what you put into the kitchen also heavily affects its energy. When you treat the hearth in certain ways, it reacts in certain ways. Your relationship with any room in the house is give-and-take. That means that if you don’t give back occasionally, the room will grow cold and stop appreciating your presence. But there are plenty of ways to mend your relationship! And the first step is to identify the problem!

From my experience, there are three main reasons why the kitchen stops being a warm and inviting place: 1) You are filling the cupboards with too much toxic, processed foods; 2) You aren’t spending enough time in that room; 3) Or you aren’t keeping the room clean enough.

When there’s a problem in the hearth, it’s always either one of these things or some combination of them. We’ll start with number three since it’s the easiest to explain. The kitchen should be anyone’s top priority to keep clean. It’s where all of your food, the nutrition and fuel of your physical and spiritual bodies, comes from! What you eat is your first defense against illness, injury, and your mental health. If the kitchen is filthy, then the food you take into your body will also begin to develop the same properties.

To keep the kitchen clean, I always start my day by washing last night’s dishes and give the counters a quick wipe. Once a month, I take stock of what’s in the fridge and freezer and scrub them out to prevent bacteria build-up. Sweeping the kitchen floors happens once a week and takes me all of three minutes to complete, tops. Once per season, normally at the beginning, I scrub the floors with soap and water, descale the coffee maker, wipe down the other appliances, and clean out the cupboards. So the only true “cleaning days” for the kitchen is four days out of the entire year. The rest of the time, the chores only take me about 30 minutes. As a quick tip, rinsing your dishes before setting them in the sink speeds up the dish washing process a ton! I’ve personally never trusted dishwashers since they don’t clean stuff well enough and it’s easier, faster, and far more cost effective to do it by hand.

The next problem the kitchen’s energy might be suffering from is how much time you’re spending there. First, spending a lot of time in the kitchen is a great thing! It absorbs the energy you feed to it, so when you don’t go in the kitchen very often or just don’t spend much time in there to begin with, the kitchen grows darker and colder. It loses the warmth and emotion and love that would’ve been sinking into it when you aren’t there.

The way to fix this problem is actually really easy! Cooking your own meals ensures that you are in there for a good amount of time each day because of the prep work and meal planning, etc. Plus, you get healthier, tastier food that way too! If you can’t cook all that well yet, don’t worry! Just like any skill, there’s no talent involved in learning something. It just depends on how much effort you apply to it. Another way to boost the hearth’s energy is to just hang out in that room. Invite some friends over, set out a snack tray, and just chill in the kitchen. Of course, since it’s pandemic right now, it’s best to wait until that’s over with to try this approach. But you, yourself, can still hang out in the kitchen!

The last problem, and a very, very common one in this day and age, is the influence of toxic food. Just like how your house absorbs energy from the land its on and what its built with, the kitchen also absorbs energy from the ingredients you keep within it. Toxic foods include anything processed or with a bunch of added sugars, and even GMO ingredients to some extent due to the trace chemicals that are still on the crops. These kinds of foods, if that’s the only thing in your house, will rot the energy. Not to mention, easy to grab snacks also end up causing you to spend a lot less time in the kitchen if that’s all you eat. Needless to say, no one eats healthy all the time. I don’t either! But having only toxic food in your kitchen isn’t great for you or the hearth.

Once again, cooking comes to the rescue! Even if you’re bad at it, it’s the thought that counts and little by little, as your skills grow and improve, the kitchen will learn to help guide you. There have been many times where I’d be stuck on how to fix something and a bottle of spice would fall of the shelf right next to me. If you listen to the kitchen, it will listen to you, too! Even if you don’t have time to cook, snacks like apples, berries, seeds, nuts, and dried meats are all healthy alternatives! I usually keep kale chips in the house for some yummy, salty crunchiness!

                                    ------------------------------

If you are worried about cost with this approach (believe me, due to my own situation it’s been a struggle at times), I’ve found out several tips and tricks to significantly lower the grocery bill. Anymore, my bill would actually be bigger if I bought crap food instead! Here’s my advice:

☀  Plan your week ahead! I always plan four meals a week that I’ll cook, and three days that I’ll scavenge for snacks and leftovers. I also stick to the rule of “one simple, one chicken, one meatless, one freebie” to remain more cost effective! The “simple” meal is just something I can make quickly if I know I’ll be short on time. The reason for have one of the meals be chicken is because it’s a much less expensive meat than beef or pork, and it’s a little better for the environment. The meatless meal is for the same reasoning. Meat is expensive and commercial brands are horrible for both the environment and the animals themselves. When I do buy meat, I make sure to buy local, grass-fed, organic meat as often as I can afford to. Keep in mind that every time you purchase anything, you are casting your vote for what is acceptable for society to continue. The “freebie” meal is just whatever I’ve been craving. If I want some kind of beef, I wait until this day.

☀  Learn to bake your own bread! For those of us with the time, this is a great way to save money and to stay healthy! Basic, white bread is actually pretty easy to make and only uses a couple ingredients. Those ingredients also go a long way. It costs me about 24¢ to make one loaf of bread because things like flour, sugar, salt, butter, honey, and yeast are all things that you buy once and can use for several loaves before you have to buy them again! It’s also not as time consuming as you’d think. Yes, it takes about 2 hours, but most of that time is proofing so you can easily be running around doing other things in between.

☀  Grow a garden! Even if it’s just a small, window herb garden, it can take the edge off of your overall food cost. Portobello mushrooms are also super easy to grow inside with minimal effort and equipment. If you have outdoor space, planting a small garden with the ingredients you use the most can help immensely!

☀  Only buy what you need! I know those sales look crazy tempting, but most of them are actually bogus and don’t actually save you any money. Think about what you are actually going to use before it goes bad and stick to your list. The bottom shelves at the store, aka the ones not in your direct line of sight, are usually where the grocery stores hide the better priced goods. At the back of most stores that have bakeries, there’s also usually a spot to get baked goods left over from the previous day for a slightly cheaper price. Day-old baked novelties like bread, cookies, and cakes are still perfectly good, and much easier to enjoy where you don’t have to spend as much!

☀  Check what’s already in your fridge before making your list! This is a huge one, since it prevents food waste, which in turn prevents money waste! What can you make during this week that can use up some of the ingredients leftover from last week? You’ll be impressed how quickly your food cost drops when you aren’t throwing things away. Waste not, want not! This trick also applies in another way, as well. When making your weekly meal plans, what types of foods use similar ingredients? If one meal calls for a slightly pricier ingredient, what other food can you cook with that ingredient to make the cost worth it? This also ensures that you get full use of things without wasting them. For example, this week I bought some fresh mozzarella cheese. Because this item is a little more expensive, I’m using it to make both the tomato mozzarella sandwiches and the beef wellingtons I’m making this week!

☀  Buy mostly produce! One of the best ways to lower your bill while still eating healthy is to simply add more fruits and veggies into your diet! There are so many tasty recipes that call for these babies that you’ll never run out of options, and there’s several things out there for everyone! Because I deal with sensory issues, I had to experiment a lot with what textures and tastes I could handle, especially on the bad days, but even still I found an over-abundance of things I love to eat. Fresh produce is way less expensive than meat, and much less expensive than many of the more mainstream snacks like chips or other processed foods.

                                     ------------------------------ All in all, taking care of your kitchen will also end up taking care of you, as well! Spending time there, actually using the kitchen the way it’s supposed to be, and just keeping it clean can work wonders in opening up your home and making it ten times warmer and more inviting! Trust me, your health and home will thank you for it!

[thisislizheather]

July Jiffs 2021

Yes, this monthly post should’ve been written on August 1st. Don’t be such a stickler, it’s not attractive. In any case, my apologies, it definitely will happen again. Here’s what went down in July!

You can find my favourite tweets of the month over here and here.

I ate the July-only-special Emmy cheeseburger dumplings from Mimi Cheng’s and they were incredible. I feel bad that you missed eating them.

Above Photo: Emmy Burger Dumplings (emmy cheeseburger dumplings in collaboration with Pizza Loves Emily/Emmy Squared, dry-aged beef, Grafton cheddar, crushed pretzels, caramelized onions, and Emmy Sauce. Pan-fried only. (8 pieces) $16.45

Nathan and I have been making homemade green iced tea every day and I think we might officially be better than you now…? Weird how that happened.

I finally found rain boots! I got them during the Nordstrom sale and I can’t wait to test them out. Those boots and this rain coat? Finally my life is figured out.

I wrote about the day trip I took to Connecticut.

Dying to see the movie about Celine Dion ‘Aline’ because it sounds insane.

I went to The Met to see the roof finally and what a time I had, I can’t wait to go again after October 29th when the fashion exhibit opens.

Above Photo: The Met rooftop, July 2021

Above Photo: The French decorative arts wing, The Met

Did you know that China imposed a cybercurfew barring those under 18 from playing games between 10pm and 8am? I kind of love it? I might not be allowed to have that opinion out loud, but here we are.

It’s summer so I’m making these tomato sandwiches semi-daily but I reeeally want to make this one with garlic aioli next.

I had the pizza at Spunto’s in the West Village and A+, will definitely go again.

I made crab cakes at home for the first time (with this dipping sauce) and I can’t believe how easy and incredible they were. Crab cakes > lobster, ANY day.

Ate the meatball parm at Scarr’s because I’m clearly crushing life and it was really good. I don’t think I’ve ever had a mind-blowing one, so the search continues.

Above Photo: Meatball parm at Scarr’s, NYC

I’ve been wanting a great club sandwich for months, so I went to Marks Off Madison and it was beyond satisfying. The bar area is perfect if you’re eating alone and the staff was stellar. Their Times review is so well deserved.

Above Photo: Club sandwich at Marks Off Madison, NYC

I used this Becca body highlighter (look it was $5 at Marshalls and we’re all depressed, leave me alone) to use at a wedding and did my legs look shiny? Not sure, I received approximately zero feedback on it but here’s the verdict: it’s a perfectly okay product. I think I just wanted to try something from Becca since they’re going out of business next month.

I also tried and already returned the lip plumper from Grande Cosmetics, which was a disappointment. Lip plumpers never work, when will I learn. Hot sauce lips might just truly be the only answer to temporary plumpness.

As a Canadian, I hope you’re aware of Mathew Evans and Henry Woodward because you should be. CAN’T believe I didn’t know about them until now. Where the hell was the Heritage Moment for them?!

I made a strawberry crumble coffee cake and it was too, too good, it’s such a perfect recipe if you have an abundance of strawberries and you’re sick of making jam. Adding sour cream made it moist as hell and I have to remember this for future coffee cakes.

Above Photo: Strawberry crumble coffee cake

It’s insane that it took me three decades to finally try caviar, but I did and now I want it by the boatload. I was gonna ask why no one told me, but everyone, everywhere has always been vocal about its greatness, so I’ll close my mouth.

I had to get an Indian wedding suit tailored, so I went to India Sari Palace in Jackson Heights and I can’t recommend it enough. Never had something tailored so perfectly. (I’ll never forgot Mindy Kaling saying years ago how rich people don’t buy better clothes, they just have all of their clothing tailored to their bodies so everything just looks better on them.)

I made this lemon butter ricotta zucchini pasta and it was summer in a bowl. I charred and added fresh corn as well and that sent it straight through the goddamn roof.

I’ll always look at the trivia page on IMDB of any movie I watch, so I can’t believe I didn’t know most of these Back To The Future details.

I bought this Zara dress for one of the weddings I went to and I can’t believe how much I loved it.

Above Photo: The Zara dress

I visited the new Dominique Ansel Workshop and I hate to say it, but it’s wildly overhyped. Maybe I’m wrong, but isn’t the chocolate in a chocolate croissant supposed to be a little melted and not hard as a rock? And the tomato tart tatine was weirdly underdone, too. What’s going on?

I made these eggless chocolate chip cookies that were wonderful.

In failure news this month, I optimistically tried to start a wardrobe challenge but brutally flopped on following through with it so I will attempt it again soon!

Incase you care, August is the only month you can apply for SNL tickets so get on that, if you so desire.

I maintain that this is the best moment from any of the Paranormal Activity movies, it still gives me chills.

Look, I’m a simple person. Sometimes you just want some Dippin’ Dots without trekking to an amusement park.

Above Photo: Dippin’ Dots in Flatiron, NYC

The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer benefiting benefiting Princess Margaret Cancer Centre is a two-day, 200-kilometre cycling journey through the Canadian countryside on August 28/29, 2021 - support my good friend Greg who’s apart of it over here!

Things that I’ve been rewatching:

Desperate Housewives and I have zero idea why, it’s an objectively bad show. I grow to hate each character more and more as each season passes by, what am I doing and why can’t I stop.

Old Shrill episodes because I’m so, so sad it’s over forever.

New things I’ve watched:

I’m still in awe of how good this second season of Dave has been and I can’t wait for the season finale next week.

The movie Mystic Pizza - what a party! I mean one viewing is enough, but a pretty good movie.

I finally watched the movie Soul and it was (of course) really good, but my brother was right, it really felt like it was just missing one thing. I can’t explain it, but it was maybe one element away from being a perfect movie.

I tried the croissant soft serve from Supermoon Bakehouse and they’re truly doing the lord’s work over there. Just unreal. They’re only open Fri/Sat/Sun, but their offerings are above and beyond a regular old bakery.

Above Photo: Croissant soft serve at Supermoon Bakehouse, NYC

Some things I’m looking forward to this month: I’ve never even heard of a buckle but now I must make one, I’ll continue to mark things off of my summer list, I’d like to get in at least one more pool, I can’t wait to take a little drive for another mini-trip, and I think I’ll try to spend my remaining summer days tanning on my roof. Oh and of course I need to start plans for October. It’s going to be more fun than ever before, stay tuned.

If you have any interest in reading what went on in June, come on over here.

[peace-coast-island]

Diary of a Junebug

A spooky midnight feast

What a long night - and I mean that in a good way! First the theatre, now it's the Spooky Moon Festival. We just enjoyed a spooky midnight feast hosted by Jack to kick off the festivities.

A couple days ago we visited Peace Coast Island to see Marlo and Don. Marlo’s an old friend from Rosevine who left home about six years ago to become an actress in New York City. Not too long after moving there, Marlo met Don, a journalist for News Times, and as of last year they became engaged.

Marlo is who some would consider a starving artist. While she has appeared in numerous commercials, soap operas, and stage shows, Marlo hasn't gotten her big break yet. She has always managed to get by with odd jobs in between sporadic gigs but it sometimes seems like she gets the short end of the stick. It's a shame because she really is a talented and versatile actress.

But it looks like Marlo's finally gonna get her big break with Sugar and Spice, a brand new musical comedy drama that just made its debut at Starlight Theatre. The show played for two weeks there and the next stop will be Port Beacon, followed by Etienne Falls, Glassenwick, Cabot Bridge, and Petunia. This isn't the first time Marlo's gone on tour for a brand new show, but in past experiences, the show turns out to be a bomb and the tour closes early. Though based on the reviews for Sugar and Spice so far - as well as my own thoughts on it - we have high hopes!

Tagging along with Marlo for the first leg of the tour is Don. Since Marlo went off on her first tour, Don has been tagging along to write a review for the show, so he gets work done and gets to spend some time with Marlo - a win-win situation for both. However, if the tour goes on for the full twelve weeks - or more if things go really well - that's gonna be the longest time the two have been apart from each other.

Instead of heading back to New York, Don's gonna be staying at the camp for a while. He's gonna write an article about the Spooky Moon Festival, which he plans to finish tomorrow to get that out of the way. Marlo was the one who suggested that he take some extra days off by visiting the camp to get his mind off things. It's so sweet how much they're gonna miss each other while Marlo's away.

I've met Don a handful of times since he and Marlo started dating. They're a sweet couple, like a comedic duo with Marlo being the funny one while Don's the straight one - they play off each other super well. Anyone who can keep up with Marlo's antics while having a great sense of humor is a winner. I can't wait for the day when they finally get married!

Considering how long they've been together, it was hard to believe that they almost broke up last year. Don spoke about the near breakup when he and Marlo appeared as guests on Garden Chats, a podcast about mental health, a couple months back. It's a really good episode that not only brings up interesting points about the stigma behind depression but also the strong bond Marlo and Don share. Don said that he was hesitant to do the podcast at first but in the end he was glad he did it.

How the two got together is a cute and funny story. Marlo had her first acting gig for an ad for a security system where she played a damsel in distress during a break in. Don was nearby and thought Marlo was in danger so he swooped in to save the day, only to be humiliated after getting yelled at by her and the crew. The poor guy was so caught up in helping someone in need that he failed to notice the cameras and other equipment that were clearly visible. After getting over the embarrassment, Marlo decided to take him out to dinner as she found him kinda cute and didn’t want to be responsible for him crawling under a rock and never ever seeing the light of day again.

For the next four years Marlo and Don hardly left each other’s side. Marlo’s dad often complains that every time he comes over to visit his daughter, her boyfriend’s always there - though over the years he’s warmed up to him. Likewise whenever Marlo comes home, Don usually tags along with her. I think it was Luciana or maybe Emmaline who said that sometimes they forget that Don’s not from Rosevine nor has he ever lived there.

In a way it’s kinda like an opposites attract sort of relationship. Don’s more serious and levelheaded while Marlo is more lighthearted and playful. She’s confident and ambitious, always jumping from one thing to another. He’s more of a go with the flow type, the one who picks and chooses his battles with consideration. He may come across as a no nonsense kind of guy sometimes, but he’s also a sensitive one. She may have a tendency to ramble on and attract trouble, but you have to admit her heart’s in the right place. Marlo gets in over her head while Don gets taken in for the ride. They compliment and contrast each other - sometimes even picking up each other’s traits over the years.

So imagine what was going through everyone’s heads when rumors started going around about the engagement being broken. Since there was never really a confirmation or a denial, no one really knew what was going on. At least for me and my circle of friends, while we were concerned, we knew it wasn’t our place to get involved in any way. Now that we know what really happened thanks to the podcast, I’m glad that the whole thing never really made the gossip mill.

The podcast that Don and Marlo did was hosted by Lessa, probably making it the first time I’ve ever listened to a podcast where I know the host and the guests on a personal level. Don spoke about how he was recently diagnosed with clinical depression and how he had suspected that something was wrong with him for a long time before that. Pressure from work and his engagement along with a bunch of other personal issues led to him getting cold feet and abruptly breaking things off with Marlo. With everything going on he suddenly found himself unable to cope so he ended up almost sabotaging the best thing to ever happen to him. Looking back, he felt that it was his way of punishing himself for not being happy enough despite having everything he could have ever wanted (and more) from someone he loved.

Marlo also spoke about the near breakup and how she began doubting herself when Don started pushing her away. When he told her that he couldn’t marry her, she couldn’t believe it. So she fought back, demanding an explanation and blaming herself. But because she loved him, Marlo knew that she couldn’t just stand there and watch Don slip into a downward spiral.

The “breakup” lasted for about a month, which was the longest Marlo and Don went without talking to each other. By then their friends had noticed a change in Don’s behavior as he was isolating himself from everyone and acting erratically. Marlo felt helpless but persisted and once Don realized that he wasn't all right, he turned to Marlo and her family for help. Since then their relationship has grown stronger.

It was interesting to hear them be so open and vulnerable about their struggles. If the whole conversation isn't proof of how much they care about each other, I don't know what is. I'm glad that Don's getting the help he needs and that Marlo's luck is finally changing.

As for the wedding, there's no set date yet but it's definitely happening. Though at this point they're pretty much like an old married couple, which is super cute. With everything going on in their personal and professional lives, they want to wait until things settle down before tying the knot. Daisy Jane, Andrea, Almie, and I are betting that the wedding's happening sooner rather than later - as in this year. Based on these past few days, it looks like we're not too far off the mark!

Marlo was absolutely fantastic in Sugar and Spice! From the catchy songs to the witty dialogue and relatable characters, it's no wonder that the play has been getting glowing reviews! Marlo stole the show, easily one of the highlights of the play. Unlike previous shows Marlo toured for, she's not stuck being the saving grace of a poorly executed script, something that she has been the victim of far too many times.

The show's about a group of friends who work at a bakery called Sugar and Spice. Marlo is Gingie, a newcomer who had just left home and rediscovers her love for baking through the bakery. There's a funny running gag of Gingie coming up with the most ridiculous cookie recipes that turn out good and leaving the kitchen in such a state of disaster in the process. It's a cute and funny show about a bunch of friends who like to bake.

In between shows, Marlo joined us at the camp. Most of the nights were sold out or didn't have enough seats for the camp, which was why we were unable to attend the first week. Once things got settled down with rehearsals and such, Marlo and Don were able to have some time for themselves at the camp. The two enjoyed picnics on various hangout spots, sightseeing near the mountains, and chilling at the beach.

We also helped Jack set up for the Spooky Moon Festival. Marlo was bummed that she's gonna miss it so Don promised to take a lot of pics for her. It's been great catching up with them and seeing them have fun together. They plan to return in the near future so that's something to look forward to!

The Spooky Moon Festival comes once every few years to celebrate the Spooky Moon. While helping out with the festival, I've learned a lot about the event. Basically there's a spooky looking moon that looks like it's covered in cobwebs that comes into view every four years. It looks super cool, like something out of a vintage spooky picture you see in old books. Everything about the festival gives off Halloween vibes and I'm really digging the aesthetic!

After seeing Marlo off, we got to prepping for the midnight feast. Don's been a great deal of help and it's nice getting to know him on a one on one basis. I think this is the first time I've hung out with him without Marlo. He's been enjoying the camp, which is great as Marlo didn't want him to worry about her too much. Like I said, it's sweet how much they watch out for each other.

At midnight, the festivities began! Making the food was a lot of fun, especially making everything look spooky and cool for the occasion. Decorating cookies was my favorite part as well as cutting out dough into fun shapes for the pies. It took a lot of prep time but the effort was so worth it - everything came out great!

Along with the food, we enjoyed listening to spooky stories, playing fun games, and looking at the moon through the astronomer's telescope. The Spooky Moon's a lovely view to see, made even better with good company to share it with!

[emmerrr]

omg em ❤️ if you can you could write about pynch snowed in + lynch brothers

anonymous asked: prompt: adam and ronan snowed in at Christmas and using the time to bake and watch bad Christmas movies and be soft and make out, please?

anonymous asked: pynch baking cookies, but Ronan is allergic to cinnamon and Adam doesn’t know that and Ronan doesn’t say anything because he doesn’t want to ruin the moment

(i’ve merged all these prompts together into something that’s kind of what you all wanted, i hope it’s okay! also this is also on ao3 here)

-

When Adam was finally home for the holidays, he and Ronan still had three full days alone before Declan and Matthew were due to arrive on Christmas Eve.

Adam planned on making full use of them.

Day one involved doing very little. They had a lazy morning, trying — albeit not very hard — and failing to get out of bed several times, alternating between coaxing the other back into the warmth whenever one of them got even close to getting up. Tired, unhurried kisses were shared under the covers, hands wandering slowly, fingers grazing bare skin, muffled laughter into necks. Quiet, nonsensical conversations that tapered out until one and then the other drifted back to sleep, before rousing again some time later, limbs entangled in the little cocoon they had created.

Eventually, hunger motivated them to move downstairs, where they cooked up a mountain of breakfast food in the kitchen before heading to the living room to make a blanket fort and watch Christmas movies for the rest of the day.

They’d made it through Elf, Gremlins, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and — because Ronan inexplicably loved it — The Holiday, before they stopped to make another mountain of food, for dinner this time. Once they’d eaten their fill, dishes were thrown into the sink to soak (probably overnight as it was highly unlikely they’d get to them before heading to bed), and then, arms slung around each other, they retreated back to their living room blanket fort for more movies.

Adam couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a day like this. A nothing day. Even the blissful summer with Ronan had been interspersed with work, and they’d spent most of their free time outside anyway. Today, Adam had barely even looked out of the window, too busy soaking up time missed, time with Ronan, time he wasn’t going to take for granted.

They were so full they could hardly move, but they still lay sprawled over each other in their blanket fort, made even softer by all the cushions Ronan had scattered. They watched both Home Alone movies back to back, Adam drowsily and unnecessarily pointing out all the ways in which Harry and Marv should be dead, if not incapacitated at the very least. When Marv got hit in the head by the fourth brick in Home Alone 2, he threw his hands up in exasperation.

“This is ridiculous. Just one of those from that height would kill him, and I’m supposed to believe he can take four and just walk it off?”

Ronan laughed fondly; Adam felt it rumble through where his head was rested on Ronan’s chest. “See, Parrish, this is what’s called a ‘movie’, and in movies, we’re supposed to suspend our disbelief.”

Adam rolled his eyes, lifted his head, and shoved a cushion in Ronan’s face, all in one smooth movement. “I know what a movie is you patronising ass. I’m just saying. They’re asking me to suspend an awful lot of disbelief, that’s all.”

“Okay, college boy,” Ronan said with a sage nod, before Adam shut him up with a kiss.

Between make-outs and more movie complaints, they ended up falling asleep down there before Adam rolled over and onto the hard floor and woke himself up. He dragged a disgruntled Ronan up to bed with him where they fell asleep again almost instantly, clutched close together, sharing warmth.

The next day was a shopping day, as tempting as a repeat of the day before was. Ronan had already got the essentials before Adam had got there, but they needed a few extra flourishes, snacks and drinks.

When they got back to the Barns and unloaded the car, Ronan stopped before reaching the porch steps. He tilted his head back and took a deep breath, eyes closed.

“It’s going to snow,” he said.

Adam looked up at the sky. It was undoubtedly cold and grey, but there had been no snow forecast. He remained dubious.

“You think?”

“I do.”

“Why?”

Ronan grinned. “Because I really, really want it to snow.”

It didn’t snow, not for the rest of the day, nor was there any sign of snow when they awoke the next morning. Ronan’s good mood was unaffected, however, and as he set about farmyard chores, Adam took over the kitchen to make gingerbread cookies.

He’d found a recipe that seemed simple enough online, and there were Christmas themed cookie cutters in one of the drawers, so he was all set. The dough didn’t take long to bring together and while it was chilling in the fridge, he went outside to help Ronan.

Ronan was almost done so Adam just waited for him to finish tidying up one of the barns and then they leisurely walked back towards the house. Halfway back, Ronan complained that he was tired and couldn’t possibly go on, so Adam gave him a piggyback, which involved a lot of swaying and almost overbalancing as Ronan was pretty heavy.

When they reached the porch, Adam dropped Ronan unceremoniously and went to lean against the railing, looking out at the grounds. There was a crispness in the air, and Ronan’s cheeks and nose were pink from being out in the cold for a while. Adam could see his breath mist in the air as he took in the view. It struck him that he’d never seen the Barns in snow, but that he’d very much like to.

Strong, sturdy arms enveloped him from behind, and he felt Ronan perch his chin on Adam’s shoulder. He twisted a little, enough so that he could reach to kiss Ronan’s cold cheek.

“What’re you thinking about?” Ronan asked.

Adam smiled. “I’m just wishing for snow.”

“It’s coming, Parrish. Trust me.”

Adam pressed back, snug in Ronan’s arms. “I do.”

Back inside, Ronan went to shower to warm up, and when he didn’t reappear, Adam found him napping, half-dressed on top of the bed. Adam threw a soft blanket over him, pressed a kiss to his temple, and left him to it.

Reasoning that his cookie dough had chilled long enough now, Adam set about rolling, cutting, and baking. There was enough dough to fill two baking trays full of cookies of various shapes; Christmas trees, snowmen, reindeer, and stars.

When they were out of the oven and cooling, Adam made some icing to decorate. There were only two food colourings to be found in the pantry, but luckily they were red and green, which seemed appropriately festive.

Using those two colours, plus a plain white, he set about decorating. They weren’t the neatest, but they were bright and cheerful, and clearly very homemade, which was exactly what he had been going for. He was just finishing icing his last one, a nice red star, when Ronan walked into the kitchen, pulling on a hoodie.

He yawned and smiled at Adam, adorably sleep-rumpled. Then he clocked the iced cookies on a plate.

“Oh, jackpot.” He grabbed a Christmas tree one and took a giant bite before Adam could stop him.

“Hey, I’ve only just finished them, the icing won’t even be fully set yet,” he said.

Ronan grinned, unapologetic, then took another bite. “S’good, Parrish,” he said with his mouth full.

“Good. Save the rest for tomorrow when your brothers get here.”

“Yes, boss,” Ronan said. He’d slowed down chewing his second bite, and he gave the cookie a closer look. Then he put it down, unfinished, and got himself a glass of water.

Adam frowned. “What is it?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Ronan said airily, then cleared his throat a couple of times. “Just…they don’t have cinnamon in them, by any chance, do they?”

“Of course they do, it’s gingerbread. Why?”

“No reason. I’m just like, mildly allergic to cinnamon. It’s no big deal.”

“Did you just say you’re allergic?”

“I said ‘mildly’.”

“Fuck, Ronan! Do you need to go to the hospital?”

Ronan was rooting through the cupboards until he finally found a little packet of tablets. “Nah, it’s fine, I’ll just take an antihistamine.”

He swallowed a tablet with water, and Adam watched him warily. “Your throat’s not gonna close up then?”

Ronan shook his head with a smile. “No. I told you, it’s a mild allergy. It just makes my throat itch and maybe irritates my eyes a little or makes me sneeze. But I only took two bites of one cookie so it’s fine, it’s not like I ate a whole fucking spoonful.”

Adam crossed his arms. “Why didn’t you ask if there was any cinnamon in them before you took an enormous bite? And for that matter, why, when I said I was making gingerbread cookies, did you not say not to put any in because you’re allergic?”

Ronan cocked his head to the side, crooked smile on his face that would have a different effect on Adam if he weren’t already annoyed. “Do I look like I know what goes in gingerbread cookies?”

Adam sighed. “Ronan it’s a pretty standard festive spice, it’s in almost everything this time of the year. And anyway, why didn’t you tell me you had an allergy? Is there anything else?”

Ronan shrugged. “No? Don’t think so. And I didn’t tell you because I didn’t even think about it. It’s not a Gansey allergy, it’s not gonna kill me.”

“It better not, because if it does, I’ll kill you.”

“Fair.”

Adam finished the cookie Ronan had half eaten, pleased that it did actually taste nice. He’d have to make some normal sugar cookies now as well, that Ronan could eat.

“You wanna help me make some more cookies?��� he asked. “I promise I won’t poison you this time.”

Ronan mulled this over, finishing his water as he did. “Do I get to decorate?”

“Yes.”

“Then yes.”

Baking, Adam discovered, was more fun when Ronan was there. It was messier, and it took longer thanks to impromptu powdered sugar fights followed by make-out truces, but infinitely more fun.

He went to bed that night feeling full and festive and excited for the next few days.

The next day was Christmas Eve, and Declan and Matthew arrived at around midday. An hour later, it started to snow.

Ronan ran outside, whooping delightedly. “What did I tell you, Parrish? What did I fucking say?”

Declan looked up at the sky with a frown. “I hope it doesn’t stick. I need to be back in DC on the 27th.”

Adam looked across to where Ronan and Matthew were chasing each other around, slipping where the snow was starting to stick. The flakes were thick and fluffy and falling fast with no end in sight. He shrugged. “That’s three days away, I’m sure however much sticks will be gone by then. And you’ve got nowhere better to be now, right?”

Declan was watching his brothers too, and he half smiled. “No, I guess not.” He turned to Adam. “By the way, were those gingerbread cookies in the kitchen? Because Ronan can’t have one, he’s allergic to cinnamon.”

“God, yeah, I know that now, he took two giant bites of one before he realised what was in it. It wasn’t actually my intention to poison him for Christmas.”

Ronan and Matthew had circled back around, and were in earshot again so Ronan caught what they were talking about. He hopped up to the railing of the porch where Adam stood and kissed him on the cheek.

“For the last fucking time, I’m mildly allergic.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Adam said fondly, catching his hand in Ronan’s collar to pull him close and kiss him properly.

Back inside, Declan made hot drinks and Ronan made a fire, and they all settled down in the living room to watch more Christmas movies

“Can we watch Home Alone next?” asked Matthew after they’d finished The Muppets Christmas Carol.

“No, because otherwise Parrish will literally never shut up about medical inaccuracies.”

But they did watch it again, because it was Matthew’s favourite, and Adam napped through it anyway, cozy under a blanket with Ronan’s arm around him.

Declan disappeared for a while to make them all dinner, and after they’d eaten they played a few old board games that Ronan had found buried in a cupboard somewhere.

It grew late, and everyone started yawning, and eventually they all trickled off the bed.

And all the while, the snow continued to fall.

On Christmas Day, they woke up to picture-perfect views outside, pristine snow that had been undisturbed. They spent the morning eating Adam’s homemade cookies, drinking coffee, and opening presents under the tree.

Ronan had got Santa hats for everyone that he insisted they all wear; Adam’s was green, Matthew’s was red, Ronan’s was black, and Declan’s was blue. There was music and laughter, and wrapping paper crushed into balls and thrown around for Chainsaw to chase. There was thank you’s and hugs and headlocks. Given that there were only four of them, cooking dinner wasn’t particularly an ordeal, and they all helped, and they all cleared up afterwards before finally piling outside to make their mark on the snow.

It had been stopping and starting again all day, and was already very deep. They didn’t venture far, sticking close to the house as they built snowmen and had snowball fights. Adam ducked as Ronan threw one at him, and it instead hit the shed behind him. A whole chunk of snow from the roof of the shed dislodged with the impact, fell forward and cascaded down over Adam, getting freezing snow down his coat and soaking his hat.

He dusted himself off and glared at Ronan, shivering. “You’ll pay for that.”

Ronan laughed, but it faltered a little when Adam started rolling up a giant snowball. “It was an accident, babe, I’m sorry — Parrish, truce!”

When all four of them were soaked through with chattering teeth and it was starting to get dark out, they traipsed back inside for warming baths or showers, and by the time they were all, the snow was falling heavily again. Declan made them all leftover turkey sandwiches, and then it was another night in the warm living room with movies and games and stories, and laughing so hard it made their stomachs hurt.

It was a family Christmas, the way Adam had always imagined family Christmases to be.

It snowed all through the night, and Boxing Day greeted them with snow that was well over Matthew’s knees when he went out to investigate. The cars in the driveway were well and truly covered, and Declan spent a large part of the morning trying to dig them out, and also clear some of the driveway, before they heard on the radio that the road beyond the Barns was currently impassable, so there didn’t seem much point.

Matthew and Ronan were very keen to go sledging down one of the hills that backed onto the property, but it was incredibly difficult to try and wade through the deep snow, and when one of Matthew’s wellington boots got caught on something resulting in him accidentally stepping out of it, they decided to give up and try again when some of the snow had thawed.

They went back to the house, cold and wet with freezing, soaked jeans stuck to their legs.

“Whose bright idea was that?” Ronan said as they all stood in front of the fire, getting some warmth back into their bones.

“Pretty sure it was yours,” Adam supplied helpfully.

“What? Nah, all my ideas are fucking great. This has Matthew written all over it.”

“That’s fair,” said Matthew sagely. He looked up at Declan. “Do we still have to go tomorrow? I don’t want to leave before we get a chance to go sledging.”

Declan ruffled his brother’s curls amiably. “Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure you’ll get your chance. Looks like we’re stuck for at least another couple of days.”

Ronan looked up sharply before schooling his expression. Adam thought he was trying not to look too invested in this development. “What about work?” he asked carefully.

Declan shrugged. “I already emailed them. Not much I can do about the weather, is there?”

Ronan nodded, then looked back to the fire, a tiny smile on his face. “Guess not.”

“There’s not something you can do about the weather, is there? Magic up a heating fan for me?”

Ronan snorted. “A heating fan big enough to melt enough of the snow to get you to the interstate? I mean, I could try, but I’m not gonna.” He elbowed Declan playfully. “Think you should stick around here and have fun instead. It’ll do you some good.”

“Yeah, Declan,” Matthew said.

“Yeah, Declan,” Adam added.

He rolled his eyes. “Alright, point made. Now,” he clapped his hands together, “who’s up for a game of Monopoly?”

“Oh finally, Fun Declan has entered the building,” Ronan said, and Matthew burst out laughing.

“What? It’s the Pokémon edition, it is fun.”

“Really?” Ronan said, suddenly serious. “Fuck yeah, let’s play Pokémon Monopoly.”

After two games, of which Adam won both, he and Ronan wrapped up warm and went outside again.

It took them the better part of the afternoon, but they managed to build a pretty stable little igloo, just big enough for two. They crawled inside, careful not to accidentally take out part of the ceiling, and Ronan pulled a bunch of dream lights out of his pocket and threw them into the air.

They hung there, giving the space a warm glow entirely at odds with how goddamn cold it was. Ronan wasn’t wearing gloves, so Adam covered his hands in his own and rubbed them gently.

“Is this romantic as fuck or what, Parrish.”

“It’s romantic as fuck,” Adam agreed. “You should probably kiss me now, before we get frostbite.”

Not needing any more encouragement, Ronan leaned forward, cold noses on cold cheeks, smiling into kisses, huddled close for warmth.

Adam pulled away with a lazy smile. “Ready to go in?”

Ronan sighed. “I guess.”

“I can kiss you better in the warmth.”

“You’ll have to prove it to me.”

Crunching footsteps outside sounded, approaching fast, before Matthew called out, “Oh, an igloo, cool!”

“Matthew, wait!” Ronan yelled quickly, but Matthew was already trying to crawl through. He wasn’t as careful as Adam and Ronan had been, and, bear of a boy he was, his shoulder barged through one side of the entryway, and then the whole damn thing caved in, collapsing snow soaking them to the skin yet again.

“Oops,” Matthew said. “Sorry! I’ll build a new one.” He stood up and reached a hand out to both Adam and Ronan, helping them up from where they were now half-buried in the snow.

“You fuckin’ better,” Ronan said, then lunged for his younger brother, who leapt away with a delighted laugh. Ronan chased him back towards the house, Adam following at a slower pace as he dusted himself free of as much snow as he could. Cold and soaking wet was a feeling he was becoming entirely too familiar with, but he couldn’t find it in him to mind. Not when fun was the cause, and when warming up again was so nice.

The next day, the sun came out, and the thaw began.

They finally had the chance to go sledging, although making it over to the hill Ronan had in mind was still a bit of an ordeal as the snow was still fairly deep. There were only two sledges, a traditional looking wooden one, and a red plastic one. Ronan had also brought some plastic bags with him, stuffed into his coat pocket, which apparently worked just as well. Adam wouldn’t know; he couldn’t remember if he’d ever been sledging before.

Declan went first on the wooden sledge. He picked up speed so fast that when the ground leveled off he went flying over a small bump in the ground and into a copse of trees, disappearing. A moment later, he emerged looking sheepish, holding the now very broken sledge in his hands.

It took him a couple of minutes to get back up the hill to the rest of them, and Ronan just raised an eyebrow in question.

“I crashed into a tree,” Declan said matter-of-factly.

Ronan laughed. “See, this is why I should always drive.” He clapped Declan on the shoulder. “It’s all good, that sledge was fucking ancient anyway. Who’s next. Matthew? Parrish?”

Matthew held out a hand. “Bag me.”

“You don’t want the red one?”

“Nah. The bags are faster.”

Ronan handed him one, and Matthew arranged it just so, sitting on it so that the handles could act as a steering wheel. Adam was curious to see how well it would work, and to be fair it really was incredibly fast. The only problem seemed to be stopping, but Matthew handled this by rocking over onto his side until he eventually skidded to a halt.

Adam gave Ronan a knowing look. “This is going to end in scabs and bruises, isn’t it?”

Ronan grinned. “All in the name of fun.” He put the red sledge at the top of the hill. “Wanna ride with me?”

“I am not getting on that thing with you.”

“Parrish.” Ronan patted the seat. “Get in there.”

Adam sighed. He got in, as he always did. Ronan immediately hopped on the back and his momentum rocketed them forward and down the hill. Ronan’s arms were around him and holding onto the little rope that passed for steering, and he let out a happy swear as they sped down the hill. Adam laughed, exhilarated by the speed and caught up in Ronan’s infectious enthusiasm.

When they approached the bottom and didn’t seem to be slowing down, Adam yelled, “How do we stop?”

“Good question!” Ronan yelled back, but he managed to turn it enough to slow down the momentum, and soon enough they’d dropped enough speed to bail out without causing any injuries.

Ronan lay sprawled on his back in the snow, still laughing. Adam crawled over from where he’d ended up and hovered over Ronan.

“Happy?” he asked.

Ronan grabbed Adam around the waist, and hugged him close. “Yes, Adam. I’m fucking happy.”

They kissed messily, joyfully, both cold and warm at the same time. Ronan leaned back and smiled. “Have you had a good Christmas?”

“The best,” Adam replied, kissing Ronan again, because he could and he wanted to. Then he abruptly got to his feet and started running. “Last one up the hill does all the washing up!”

“Parrish, wait up, no fair!”

[vannahfanfics]

Hey!! I gots ya a prompt request! Lucy-centric (ft), light angst, and some Graylu mixed in! You can make it an AU if you want depending on how you go about this? Okay so could you write about a first time holiday event Lucy never got to experience during her childhood (gasps from holiday lovers) but is doing with the gang? Maybe you can make it more angsty if you do it in a Modern AU? Ooohh there’s so many ways you could write this!! You’ll make something great I know!! You’re awesome! Have fun!

Ayo-Kay! Here your actual requested story! :D I hope you enjoy it!

Sunshine on a Winter’s Night

The sweet scent of gingerbread wafted up Lucy’s nose, preceding the arrival of a serenely smiling Mirajane delivering a plateful of the artistically crafted, frosted little cookie men to the table where Lucy was in avid discussion with Natsu, Gray, and Erza. Mirajane’s cooking in all capacities was always delectable, and so Lucy’s mouth was watering in anticipation before she had even plucked one of the cute pastries off the plate. As she bit down onto the head of her choice, she instantly melted into a contented sigh as the sugary-sweet icing mingling with the sharp taste of ginger spread over her tongue. She mumbled her approval around the half-eaten head of the little cookie man, because truthfully, she didn’t even want to remove the yummy treat from her mouth to speak. Erza, Gray, and Natsu were in similar states of rapture approaching food nirvana.

“Teehee! Thank you, you guys!” Mirajane flushed under the praise. With her composure so sweet and innocent, sometimes it really was a wonder that it belied such a dominatrix, murderous alter ego. Lucy munched happily on the little cookie, simply savoring it, before the white-haired woman’s continuation piqued her interest. “I just wanted to get feedback on the new recipe I’m trying before Elfman, Lisanna, and I start on our annual gingerbread house!”

“Oh, right!” Natsu grinned as he scarfed down his fifth cookie. “Your gingerbread houses are always awesome, Mira!” He looked at Lucy with child-like delight. “Lucy, you’ve never gotten the chance to see it, have ya? Mira and the others make this huuuuuuge gingerbread house and then we eat it!”  His sharp teeth glinted in ravish desire as he likely imaging tearing them into the side of a gingerbread mansion. Lucy looked up at Mirajane with a bright smile.

“Wow, Mira! You’re so talented. I can’t wait to see it- and taste it, if it’s as good as this!” she laughed while licking gingerbread crumbs from her lips. Following another giggle of glee, Mirajane chatted with them for a few minutes before wandering off with her plate of remaining cookies to gather more opinions from the other members of the guilt. Now that her mind was absorbed with dancing visions of little gingerbread men and their candy houses, Lucy suddenly realized something. “Hmm… Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever built a gingerbread house.”

“Really, Lucy?” Erza looked at her in mild shock. She then frowned slightly. “Well, it is tradition here in the guild… Many members have helped with the process in some capacity over the years… But that doesn’t mean it’s every family’s holiday tradition, I suppose.”

“My family didn’t have many holiday traditions,” she sighed while pursing her lips in a pout of self-pity. “My father didn’t really believe in them… He said they got in the way of productivity.” Though she and her father had since made amends before (and after, thanks to Lucy’s soul-searching) his passing, her childhood still stung in many ways, including it seemed her lack of holiday cheer. The three of them looked at her with owlish eyes and gaping mouths. Erza’s arms then surged forward to wrap around Lucy’s head and literally pull her across the table to smother her into her chest; it would’ve been comforting, if Lucy’s cheek had not instead met the cold and unforgiving surface of her steel armor. Oblivious, she nuzzled into Lucy’s blonde waves while crooning supportive encouragements. After a bit of worming about in her iron grip, Lucy was able to push herself up onto her hands with a huff. “It’s not that big of a deal! Honestly, guys, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything!”

~~~~~~~~~~

“I am totally missing out!” Lucy wailed in dismay as she flopped face-down onto her bed. Ever since the conversation about the gingerbread houses, Lucy had been plagued with a blue feeling that made everything less sunny to her. Upon arriving home, she had tried soaking in a bubble bath, putting on fluffy pajamas, and working on her novel notes, but nothing had alleviated her mild depression. With a frustrated shout, she had slammed down her pencil and jumped up with angry tears in her eyes; no matter how much she had tried to deny it, missing out on the holiday tradition got to her. With a low, miserable whine, she turned her head to the side to stare miserably at her bedroom wall. Lucy was not normally one to be melancholy over trivial things, but as she thought about it, it really wasn’t trivial; the gingerbread house was merely a representative of another aspect of her rough, soulless childhood following her mother’s passing. She knew there was no use sulking over it, but somehow she just couldn’t will herself to crawl out of bed and stop entertaining the gloomy feeling.

That is, until she heard the doorbell ring.

She knew it wasn’t Natsu, because he never bothered with the door and much preferred breaking in through the window like some common vagrant; her next logical conclusion was Gray. He stopped by from time to time by himself when he needed a change of pace, and would enjoy a cup of coffee and some small cookies with her every now and again. It had grown to the point where she had begun bouncing ideas for her novel off him, and though he didn’t really read for fun or know the intimate details of her story, he always listened attentively and gave her his honest opinion. Sometimes he had some really insightful things to say; she had incorporated quite a few of them into her work in progress.

“Coming!” she called as she retracted herself from her cozy, warm covers like an inchworm moving backwards, throwing her head back with a small sigh and a jiggle of her shoulders as if she could literally shake off the gray cloud of dejection around her. It clung annoyingly to her, like a heavy cloak. The sky outside wasn’t helping, as it was eclipsed by oppressive dark clouds that sapped the light and life out of everything and made the winter chill seem even deeper. Still, she couldn’t keep Gray waiting too long or he would impatiently start pounding on her door, so nonetheless she slid from her bed to walk barefoot down the hallway and to her front door. She swung it open right at the moment Gray was going to start knocking wildly, as she caught him with an embarrassed expression and his arm raised in a fist. “Hey, what’s up?” She tried to push as much false cheer and her usual optimism into her voice as possible, not really wanting to talk about her issues at the moment. Gray gulped slightly and then looked shyly down at his feet, which was unusual for him; it was then that she noticed he was hiding something behind his back. “Whatcha got?”

“Here!” he grunted and suddenly thrusted it into her hands, pushing her back out of the doorframe onto her hallway rug. Reeling at the abruptness of his action, it took her a moment to recover and actually look down at what he had presented her with. Her heart instantly scrunched in her chest with gratitude. In her hands was a small make-your-own gingerbread house kit, complete with all the decorating essentials. The gesture was overwhelmingly thoughtful. She found tears of a different kind brimming in her earth-brown eyes as she looked up at him with a genuinely moved smile.

“Gray, I… Thank you so much…” Apparently he had surpassed his initial timidity and awkwardness, because he now flashed her a pleased smirk. He slid one hand into the pocket of his coat while he raised the other arm to prop himself up against the doorjamb, and if one happened to pass by, it would not look unlike a man flirting with his lover. Lucy was too touched by his simple but considerate gift to even consider such notions.

“Of course. You didn’t think I wouldn’t notice how sad about it you were, did you?” Lucy’s smile warmed and now she was the one who shyly cast her gaze to her toes, which were digging into the fluffy fibers of her rug as happiness sang through her nerves. Gray really did have a way of seeing right through her. Natsu did too, a lot of times, but there were also instances where she had been able to conceal them well enough for it to go unnoticed by her best friend… But somehow, Gray was able to sniff out her melancholies or worries like a bloodhound. He would appear out of the blue like this to present her with some little trifle or words of encouragement; in fact, one such occasion had been the springboard for his afternoon and evening visits. He pulled his hand out of his pocket to reach out and very gently rustle her tousled blonde hair, causing her to look up at him. The smile on his face was so impossibly sweet that Lucy practically melted on the spot. Her heart rate quickened and her body temperature climbed a few notches as a little voice in the back of her mind quipped that the emotion he was wearing could only be loving adoration. “I just can’t stand to see you so sad, Lucy. You’re the sunshine of our guild, you know.” Lucy had to look down again because her face was crumpling as she fought back tears.

“Thank you,” she whispered again with a voice like a fleeting breeze. She was just so overcome by all this, her emotional responses heightened due to her already tumultuous state. Gray just continued to soothingly comb through her blonde tresses with his fingers as she recollected herself. After a few minutes, she was able to take a deep breath and raise her head to smile sweetly at him. “Gray, will you make the gingerbread house with me?”

“Of course,” he smiled back at her and walked inside. As he brushed past her on his way to the kitchen in an action that could only be deliberate, Lucy breathed in a sharp, barely audible breath as electricity skipped over her skin where his coat had lightly made contact. Clutching at her heart as it refused to still, she stared at the winter scenery beyond the ajar door. She had the feeling then that tonight, things would change…

After regaining her senses, she shut the door and joined him in the kitchen; he had deemed it necessary to strip off his coat and assemble the house bare-chested. Given it was one of his personality traits she had long since grown used to it; however, to her shock and mild horror, the sight of his shirtless stole all the breath in her lungs and she had to use all of her willpower to keep from ogling at his sculpted body. Of course she had always known Gray was attractive; many of the men of the guild were- but this was the first time that it was painfully apparent and threatening to derail her focus. Gulping, she attempted to redirect her energy on opening the gingerbread house kit to inspect its contents. It wouldn’t be a fancy, homemade creation like Mirajane’s, as the gingerbread sheets came pre-cooked and packaged in plastic to ensure freshness alongside a sizeable container of frosting and various varieties of candies. Her anxiety was just beginning to subside as she anticipated the revelry of assembling the thing- that is, until Gray leaned over her shoulder to likewise inspect the goods and involuntarily pressed his abs into her back. Surely he must’ve felt the shiver that crawled up her spine, but if he did, he made no mention of it.

I’m going to die before this is over, she lamented with a small groan. If Juvia doesn’t bust down the door and kill me for crushing on Gray first! Lucy was not oblivious to what was happening to her. She almost wished that Juvia and Gray were a confirmed item so she could squash all hopes of shenanigans happening her, but though Gray cared very deeply for the water mage, so far he had refused her many advances… Meaning that devilish little voice in her head could sing that she had a chance with him. Oh my, she just sighed silently and began opening the gingerbread packages with a quick prayer to preserve her sanity.

A floor, four walls, and two panels for a roof were contained in the packages. Lucy cracked open the jar of frosting and gave it a sample. It was surprisingly good considering it was in a cheap cooking kit, and she held up the jar for Gray to sample. She tried to keep her hand from trembling violently as his head dipped down next to hers to stick his finger into the frosting and scoop some up, looking at her as he very unnecessarily slowly drew it over his tongue.

“It’s good,” he remarked casually as if he hadn’t done the most seductive thing Lucy had ever seen in her life. She turned stiffly from him as she felt her soul leaving her body. She wasn’t going to survive this, no sir. All she could manage was a weak, shaky chuckle as she set the jar down, gripping it so hard the plastic would crack any second. I can’t tell if he’s flirting or just so comfortable with me he doesn’t care! She wailed silently. She inhaled deeply as panic began to bubble up inside her. Calm down, Lucy. Just treat this like any other night with Gray. Yeah.

That was so goddamn hard to do with Gray looking like a bigger snack than the gingerbread house.

Lucy’s hand was trembling the entire time she piped the icing across the gingerbread. It didn’t help that Gray decided that the easiest way to put it together was for him to stand directly behind her and reach around her on either side to hold up the pieces while she generously applied frosting glue. Lucy knew for damn sure they looked like the intro to some cheap adult film, but what could she do? Gray was either completely ignorant of the implications or thoroughly enjoying playing her like a fiddle, but she didn’t know, because his face remained stoic the entire time, except for when he would smile and make some comment that had no suggestive undertones whatsoever. By the time she finished icing white tiles onto the finished roof, she was exhausted- and they still had a heck of a lot to do!

When it came time to apply the candies, Lucy was able to relax just a little bit, because it was actually kind of difficult. Sometimes the candies were a little heavy- especially the gum drops, those annoying squishy bastards- and would fall from their spot, requiring her to stop what she was doing and apply more icing to try and secure it. Little by little, they applied the rainbow of candies, and when they were finished, she stepped back to admire their handiwork while sweeping the back of her arm across her forehead with a tired “phew.”

It was actually pretty cute, now that she got a good look at it. They had a little gumdrop fence leading up to the front door, which had a window of glass-like candy and a little chocolate-chip doorknob. Gummy flowers decorated a small garden with a gardening gingerbread man (which she had iced herself and thought she had done damn well with all those little lines!). The roof tiles were made with the same glass-like candy as the windows, in a menagerie of colors to make an effect like stained glass. Finally, cotton candy puffed from a small chimney. Lucy could not help but beam broadly at their creation. She whirled around to throw her arms around Gray’s neck in a hug, forgetting the earlier sexual tension in her glee. “It’s wonderful! Thank you so much for this, Gray. I feel lots better!” Indeed, the cloudy gloom had finally subsided and she was her sunshiney self again. As she fell back onto the pads of her feet to look up at him, he smiled and swept a stray hand of hair from her face.

“No problem. I’m glad I get to see that smile of yours again.” Ba-bump! went her heart like a drum against her ribs. The tension didn’t take long to return. A blush dusted her cheeks like sparkling pink sprinkles that shifted further toward red with each second he spent staring thoughtfully down at her. Suddenly, he grabbed her lightly by the chin to turn her face to the side. “You’ve got frosting on your cheek,” he remarked with amusement. Oh my God, I really am in some cliché teenager’s fantasy, Lucy groaned inwardly but secretly relished it. She expected him to sweep his finger over it and pop it into his mouth and look hella fine while doing it, but instead he did something that no cheesy teenage novel could prepare her for: he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss into her cheek. Lucy’s breath rattled as she drew it in, chocolate-brown eyes going wide.

“Gray…” she whispered. The longing in her voice called him forth, peppering kisses over her skin before arriving to her lips. His mouth feathered lightly over hers for a moment as stormy gray eyes greeted her, silently asking permission. She indicated such with her eyes fluttering closed and leaning her body against him, hands pressed against his chest. Despite her knowing it was coming, it was still such an explosive feeling once his mouth melted over hers like chocolate over her lips, soft and warm and sweet with the faint hint of the frosting. She inched herself up onto her tip-toes as she leaned dramatically into the kiss, simply drunk on the sensation of his mouth moving rhythmically over her own. He reached up to clutch a fistful of her hair to very gently twist her head to deepen the kiss, and though she thought it not possible, she swooned even further. They kissed like that for several minutes, deeply, passionately, before he pulled back. Her eyes opened to see him smiling wryly down at her, and his fingers teased through her hair in loving caresses.

“You’re my sunshine, too, y’know,” he breathed in a low voice aching with honest, raw emotion. Lucy’s eyes scrunched up as she smiled so hard her face hurt, but she simply couldn’t help it; God, she loved him, she loved him for what he was doing to her and saying to her. She circled her arms around his neck and fondled the ends of his dark hair, her eyes never leaving his for a single millisecond. Still on her tip-toes and unsteady, his other hand gripped her hip to keep her stable. Tracing a finger across his sharp jawline, she smiled cutely at him.

“You’ve really got some smooth things to say, y’know? Do you know the things you do to a girl?” she asked teasingly. He snorted in laughter before bringing her into another soft, sweet kiss, and Lucy shined brighter than the burning sun to chase away the gray clouds and winter chill to make a little warm space just for herself and Gray to inhabit…

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to perusemy Tableof Contents!

[coffeemaker7]

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[hobiheavenly]

Karma’s Cravings

✧ Pairing: Min Yoongi x Reader

✧ Multichapter, Coffee Shop AU, E2L

✧ Word Count: 3.9k 

✧Summary: Your life is going idyllically with your business with the exception of having to work with Min Yoongi who disapproves of your comercial tactics. but when one day a medium tells you he is to be the love of your life you are quick to shut her down but running away from fate can come with cause consequences.  

✧ A.N: Ok so I know I promised a Hobi fic to be my first but I had this idea and I just had to develop it. I edited this from a fic I did years ago but I knew Yoongi would fill this au with ease! hope you enjoy it <3

Part 1

Life was blissful. It was the morning peace that filled your heart with happiness as you prepared a fresh batch of new cookies. You felt proud of yourself for the idyllic peace you had manage to create. not just because you were doing what you loved but also because you were doing it on your own. even when it wasn’t easy to get to where you were you had finally reached that part of life you wanted to be.

At a young age and with the help of your best friend Seokjin, you started your dream of owning your very own coffee shop. Seokjin was the one who cooked and you were the one who made the designs and the names as well. To many, especially your parents, this was just a ridiculous idea. That you would go broke in a matter of weeks. Turns out, that same  business they doubted from the start was rising and booming with clients. And even the name of the shop appealed to them, "Constant Cravings".

When you searched for the best spot, you found a great space located near your home and was located in the best location for people who needed sweets and caffeine in their daily lives. One bad part, your new boss. Well he wasn't your boss, but he was the manager of the space where you had your coffee shop. His name was so bittersweet and the only mention of it made have the chills, Min Yoongi.

But today was not the day to think about the sourman that is your boss. Today you had a big gig to complete. You were offered the chance to make cookies for a big party that the owners of the space had every year for Valentines Day. You were especially excited since you would earn a lot of money that day. Bad news was, Seokjin reported sick that day so there was no one to replace him and you were left with all the work. Luckily enough you knew the recipe by heart and all you needed to do was bake all the batches for the party.

Once you got to the party, you put all the cookies in display and all of the most important people were there. The owner of the space was there, along with his son. There were many new people you hadn't seen before, great NEW customers! There was a woman in a big red tent, outside was a sign that read, "The Grand Madame Karma, she sees it all and knows it all".

"Yeah sure, all I need to know right now is if this thing is going to work or not, I really need the money"  you thought.

The day went on and the party seemed tranquil, and by that I meant boring. "Don't these people know how to party? All they talk about is business and money. Its Valentines Day! A time of love and caring, well if I had a boyfriend it would. Well, who needs a man when you have a successful shop?" you thought. Normally you’d speak your mind and not let any opinion inside you, but seeing that you would risk potential new customers so you kept your mouth shut.

It was almost over everyone was moving on from the event and really nothing interesting really happened. The red tent was still standing tall in front. Maybe it was curiosity or maybe it’s the excitement of the unknown but you were still curious about Madame Karma. To make an excuse to go inside you went to give her one of her famous cookies and a cup of steaming coffee. You might not get a reading but at least a cookie never hurt anybody. Inside there was a woman, black long hair, around her 50s with long red nails to match her the red cape and on the table with the crystal ball right at the center. Typical. You gave a pleasant smile to the woman, offering her the cookie and beverage. Madame Karma smiled tenderly and felt relieved.

“Thanks a million my dear! Today is a cold day and a cookie is just what I need to get my romantic flow going. All I see in these people, or what they ask, is how their business will be. It’s Valentines Day and no one has asked me about romance!”

“Maybe because they are too stuck up to even think beyond their stupid computers. I call them "Informal Clones" they are too serious and superficial” you giggled.

“Now there is a great opinion I've been waiting to hear all day!” said Madame Karma, she looked at you and up and down “you know I used to have legs like yours, when I was your age.”

“Well you are going to love this cookie, it's called “Legs For Days", plus it's the shape of a cute high heel” You felt proud for your cookie naming abilities it was cute and sassy just like your brand was.

“Oh, god this is the most delicious cookie I have eaten, and trust me I have eaten too many cookies in my life” the medium laughed “What’s your name dear?”

“It’s ___, and I’m assuming you’re Madame Karma?”

“The one, the only, knows all, sees all!” she praised herself raising her arms up dramatically and laughed loudly at her over the top performance. “so tell me ___ how much do I owe you?”

“It’s on the house! I was going to bring it to you earlier, but as you can see my business is full.”

“I always give something in return. Tell you what, how about I read you your fortune as payment for such a wonderful cookie”

“Sounds good” you shrugged. As you sat in front of Madame Karma you started to feel rather giddy. You had always been curious to find out about her future, but never had the time to go to an actual medium.

“You have a bright aura, my dear. It has a tight connection” Madame Karma took out a stack of cards and put them on the table “I will employ the card with you, pick out 6 cards with your left hand” You did as told and gave her the cards. After that Madame Karma put them in groups of three and began to read the first group “This represents your past. I see three people, two men and a woman, I'm guessing they are your mother and father and brother, am I right?” You nodded, lucky guess. “Well I see disapproval in them, especially your father. He didn't want you to open your shop.”

You nodded once more. “He felt that I should go to college and I said I wanted to do a project with a friend. That really didn’t sit well with him being that I was supposed to become a lawyer or even an administrator of a huge company. I never cared for math, I even sucked at it in school so it wasn't great. I went on to this business because it was something I enjoyed.”

“Well just as you mention  I saw that decision in here! Now let’s go to your present. I see a great success in your business, although I see a presence of someone that pulls you down, like a big spine on your back.”

Immediately you thought of the pompous arrogant Min Yoongi that always criticized your business place calling it a waste of time and that the names of your creations were too scandalous. What did that jerk know about creativity?

“what will happen to that spine? Will he go away?”

“Patience, my dear” said Madame “wait till I get to the future. Right now we are in your present. Even though your professional life is boosting with great things, I see your personal life is a bit contrary to it. I see loneliness. No masculine company, but…..”

Oh she knew how to peak your interest… “But what?”

“I see someone on the horizon…”

“Please tell me it someone nice”you begged. It has been a while since you had been on a date, and the last one was a total lame waste of time!

“I see, someone who is hooked into your professional life. Now lets see the last row, that represents your instant future” after reading the last row Madame Karma looked at you with a half smile “do you remember when we talked about that spine up your ass? I can see he is a man, close to you although not in a personal way. Maybe a work partner” she looked at you with a gleam in her eye “do you know who Im talking about?”

“I can think of one man that I consider a spine up my ass” you rolled your eyes “He is the one who takes care of the building.”

“Yes I see he is a man of power.”

“Yeah, a powerful idiot!”

“What's his name?”

“Min Yoongi” you answered “Can you tell me if he will leave soon? Tell me he is going to be transferred to Siberia? Antarctica? Africa?”

“No. On the contrary. His connection with you will change completely. He will change from "pain in my ass" to "I can’t live without him".”

You dropped your jaw and began to laugh your guts off “ Oh that’s a good one! You must be talking about another spine up my ass, because I know it’s not him.

“Sweetheart, I assure you that he is. These are the cards, and Karma doesn't lie. Plus, you can’t escape Karma. If you try to escape from it, you will be forever cursed. And trust me, you don't want that to happen” Madame Karma grabbed your hands and looked at you in the eyes “Min Yoongi, even when you think he is the most insufferable man in the world, is the love of your life.”

_____________________________

Min Yoongi  was looking at you from across the garden and as he saw you, he felt his body feeling tense. There was just something about you that didn't feel right, at least not for him. He didn't understand what it was, but you were strange and you always got to his head making him irritated. Surely it was because of your notorious shop with all those extravagant and sensual names plus the way that you decorated the place was not exactly decent. I mean, who ever called a cookie "Chocolate Orgasm" or a coffee called "Hot, wet, and wild"?

The first day the store opened he went inside for a cappuccino so he could go to work, when suddenly you came to the counter with a great smile and asked him if he wanted the specialty of the day, "A Slow Trip To Pleasure". That happened less than a year a go and he still remember the way he had jumped when he saw such an innocent looking girl pronounce those words. But it was more the amazement of the tone in your voice and the spark in your eye that seemed to invite him as he had stood in shock. He had never been so nervous with a woman in all his life than he had been that day in the coffee shop.

If it weren't for the fact that "Constant Cravings" was the shop that produced more profits in the entire space, he would have canceled your contract a long time ago. Having you around caused too much problems. Especially since you were a complete opposite of him. You were outgoing and outspoken, while he was a calm person who minded his business and just prefered the silence. He preferred the calm of having a boss than doing all by yourself. Every time he would tell you that the way you sold things were too extravagant, but you would just laugh and tell him that it was exactly that extravagance, or more likely the sex appeal, is what sold your items the most.

True it as it may be, it was just too much and there were rules in the contract that established that you must control her decorations, but since no one ever complained things stayed as they were. But soon would come the day that you would regret this, since every time you changed your front window decoration you exploited more and more the theme of sexuality.

He looked around and saw you standing outside of the tent of the medium he had assigned for entertainment for the party. He saw your eyes, looking like two big crystals that shine like the sky in a hot spring day after a great storm. He tried to look away but instead he looked at you up and down looking at every centimeter of your body. You were far from looking sexy compared to the other business women in the party. In fact you were in your uniform, a white blouse and black pants. So then why did he feel so strange? It was ridiculous to feel attracted to a woman who he didn't even know on a personal field. But every time he saw you he imagine your lips moving slowly on him offering him a "Slow Trip To Pleasure".

“Are you going to visit the Medium?”

Yoongi shook his head, as if coming out of a trance and looked beside him. There standing was Hoseok, his best friend, with a cookie in his hand and a great smile, since he was always optimistic.

“Excuse me?” asked Yoongi.

“I said, are you going to go see the medium?”

“Naa! I don't believe in that gibberish!”

“Why don't you calm yourself down and have a good time? It’s your party!” Hoseok cheered him. It was true, he had organized everything to impress the owner of the space who wasn't especially fond of having a party, but seeing the opportunity to get new customers and keep happy his investors. He left Yoongi with the job and he put it in himself to make the best party ever.

Hoseok gave a small punch in his ribs and gave a sneaky smile to Yoongi “Seems like ____ is getting her cards read.”

“You know her?” Yoongi asked surprised.

“How can I not know the owner of the coffee shop that is close to my office? She is a very sweet gal.”

“Sweet wouldn't be the right term to describe her” said Yoongi smirking.

“You're right, the correct term would be "Intensely Hot"” Hoseok said with a seductive smile. A certain sense of jealousy began to grow in Yoongi's stomach but he didn't listen to it and looked at you.

“Hot? You think so?”

“Are you kidding? You're the manager of the space and you haven't noticed her?”

“ I've noticed her” Yoongi said deffensively

“And haven't you noticed that ____ is a hotty with a body? I mean she is so hot she could make a pool go on fire!”

“Well that may be true but her products and her technique for selling them left much to be desired.”

“Well its those product of hers that keep me alive! Yesterday I tried this new cookie called "Sugar kiss" and I'm telling you, that woman can make a grown man cry with them! They are extremely delicious! I wished she could make this cookie called "Wild Sex In The Back Seat Of A Car", I would sure try that…..with her.”

Yoongi looked at his best friend with a death glare and  Hoseok smiled innocently “Sorry dude, I forgot I was walking on your turf.”

“What in blazes are you talking about?”

“Dude, you gave me the death glare! That means you are interested in her. Plus you haven't stopped looking at her since she went into the tent. For one thing I'm happy that you finally are into a girl that isn't a total stuck up. Bad thing for me is now don't have a chance. Maybe she has a sister.”

“Ok I am NOT interested in _____! First of all, if I'm looking at her it’s because I'm trying to see what she is going to do next because she always wants to irritate me by doing something out of the ordinary. Second of all, I am not always interested in stuck up girls. And third of all, if you want her you can have her.”

“If you continue to say that I'm going to end up believing that, and just so you know you do date uptight, stuck up women, all the time! Every girl is a copy of the other! Boring to hell too. But ___ is not boring in any way! Good thing you don't like her cause I've been hitting on her all week and she has been sweet but just that, sweet. Could be she has a boyfriend.”

Yoongi got relieved that you didn't pay attention to Hoseok’s advances but suddenly felt frustrated that there was a possibility you could have a formal boyfriend. Wait, why the hell was he worrying? He didn't care for you personal life!

“Come on, lets get your future read! Maybe we can find out if there is a woman that can shake your chubber! I bet it’s ___!”

“Why don't you go and see about yourself” Yoongi said “You need a woman more than me.”

“I already got a date with a girl I met in the supermarket, her name is Momo and she was talking about Broccoli when I met her.”

“But you hate Broccoli.”

“Well for that babe, it was well worth it. You should’ve seen her body to know what I'm talking about. Besides you need a spin around the town, meet a girl that you can have a good time. When is the last time you had sex?”

“I am not telling you” the last thing Yoongi needed was his best friend laughing at his dried up sex life. He would die of laughter if he knew.

“Yoongi, either you tell me, or I'm going directly to _____ and telling her that you want her.”

“God you're like the nosy brother I never wanted! Two months! There! Happy?”

Hoseok’s jaw dropped “ DUDE! Your dick is going to fall off if you don't do something about it!”

“Oh brother! Do you always think about this or is the Valentines Day spirit swelling you mind and apparently your dick too?” Yoongi rolled his eyes “I am going to see if I can get a girl if it will get you off my case!”

“Ok, but let's have fun tonight, go see the medium, she can tell you about your love life! Maybe ____ can get it to be more fun.”

“NOT HER!”

“Ok but at least she can give us a clue to whom” Hoseok patted him on his shoulder and got him close to the tent and they saw you coming out. You looked at Yoongi and then quickly turned to Hoseok, almost avoiding his gaze.

“Hobi, I'm glad to see you” you smiled tenderly “Are you missing my double coffee with no foam?”

“That and your cookies” he smiled back and winked “they are the best things I have ever had in my life!”

You smiled back and Yoongi could have sworn that seemed to be the most seductive thing. Damn! He loved contagious smiles and particularly this woman had the sexiest contagious smile ever! Curse his bad luck!

“Min Yoongi” You said in a serious voice.

“_____” he greeted.

Seeing Hoseok and Yoongi was an odd match considering the fact that they looked like polar opposites, “Are you acquainted?”

“Yes we are very good friends since high school”  the manager said all serious.

“Now that's something you don't see every day” You laughed.

“It seems you are surprised to see that I have friends.”

“Well at least one who is very charming.”

“I can be charming. I am just not that patient with people who live to irritate me daily with their over the top decorations to a shop that leaves very little to the imagination. The mannequins I saw in the morning on the front window of your shop were completely naked!”

“I'm sorry but my mannequins are completely dressed” you began to protest.

“In an evident way like a slap.”

“Is that an invitation?” your eyes sparked with a flame of anger.

“I didn't know you had violent tendencies.”

“Only with people who irritate me and put me nervous”

“Speaking of nervous” he pointed with her index finger “your front window is….”

“Provocative? Interesting?”

“ Excessive!”

“Thanks for the compliment!” You smiled.

“THAT WAS NOT A COMPLIMENT!”

“Coming from you, the fact that you actually noticed the front window is a compliment in itself. Tell me did you really just look at it or were you so wrapped in yourself that when you were looking at your reflection you accidentally saw it?”

“Evidently our last conversation about the decoration was but alas forgotten” he rolled his eyes, his signature move, “Seeing as how you have such a short attention spam”

“Don't you dare insult my intellect! I know what you said! I know what I said! Don't come up to me with those airs of superiority and insult me.”

“Well if you can remember then you must have not heard”.

“I know how to hear and to remember, but I also know this exquisite word called "ignore" if you want I can get a dictionary for you so you can look it up! Oh and FYI you wouldn't know creativity even if it bit you up the ass!”

“You obviously don't know me”

“Oh I know you very well, Mr. Informal Clone!” you looked at him up and down with certain air of despise.

“I have that feeling too, Miss. I dont ever listen to my boss!” he said ironically, “how lucky for both of us.”

“I wouldn't employ that term in this case. But I see we finally agree in something!”

“I think it is the first time” he smirked.

“Maybe you should come by my shop, I just made a new cookie in the shape of a pair of lips” you smiled before adding “It's called, "BITE ME!"

Hoseok tried his hardest not to laugh but obviously it was in vain. Yoongi turned around and glared at his friend. Damn, he had forgotten about his friend and of Madame Karma as well, who was standing behind you. He scoweled at you and went to Madame Karma

“No thanks, I'm not in the mood for coffee. But maybe you can give hobi, seeing how he LOOOVES your coffee and cookies” then he turned to Madame Karma and shook her hand “Madame Karma I am….”

“Min Yoongi” she whispered amazed.

“Yes, well I came to see if you can tell me my future” he said without showing surprise as to how she could know his name.

“Your aura is bright…. exceptionally bright” Madame Karma said as she saw Yoongi's hand then she turned to you and made a movement with her head “____, dear, please leave. Mr. Min and I have a lot to talk about.”

Yoongi couldn't think of anything he had to ask Madame Karma in particulat. He was guessing that she would read some plain old cards say some mumbo jumbo and he would just nod. Then he would thank her and leave. How bad could it be?

Life was blissful. It was the morning peace that filled your heart with happiness as you prepared a fresh batch of new cookies. You felt proud of yourself for the idyllic peace you had manage to create. not just because you were doing what you loved but also because you were doing it on your own. even when it wasn’t easy to get to where you were you had finally reached that part of life you wanted to be.

At a young age and with the help of your best friend Seokjin, you started your dream of owning your very own coffee shop. Seokjin was the one who cooked and you were the one who made the designs and the names as well. To many, especially your parents, this was just a ridiculous idea. That you would go broke in a matter of weeks. Turns out, that same  business they doubted from the start was rising and booming with clients. And even the name of the shop appealed to them, "Constant Cravings".

When you searched for the best spot, you found a great space located near your home and was located in the best location for people who needed sweets and caffeine in their daily lives. One bad part, your new boss. Well he wasn't your boss, but he was the manager of the space where you had your coffee shop. His name was so bittersweet and the only mention of it made have the chills, Min Yoongi.

But today was not the day to think about the sourman that is your boss. Today you had a big gig to complete. You were offered the chance to make cookies for a big party that the owners of the space had every year for Valentines Day. You were especially excited since you would earn a lot of money that day. Bad news was, Seokjin reported sick that day so there was no one to replace him and you were left with all the work. Luckily enough you knew the recipe by heart and all you needed to do was bake all the batches for the party.

Once you got to the party, you put all the cookies in display and all of the most important people were there. The owner of the space was there, along with his son. There were many new people you hadn't seen before, great NEW customers! There was a woman in a big red tent, outside was a sign that read, "The Grand Madame Karma, she sees it all and knows it all".

"Yeah sure, all I need to know right now is if this thing is going to work or not, I really need the money"  you thought.

The day went on and the party seemed tranquil, and by that I meant boring. "Don't these people know how to party? All they talk about is business and money. Its Valentines Day! A time of love and caring, well if I had a boyfriend it would. Well, who needs a man when you have a successful shop?" you thought. Normally you’d speak your mind and not let any opinion inside you, but seeing that you would risk potential new customers so you kept your mouth shut.

It was almost over everyone was moving on from the event and really nothing interesting really happened. The red tent was still standing tall in front. Maybe it was curiosity or maybe it’s the excitement of the unknown but you were still curious about Madame Karma. To make an excuse to go inside you went to give her one of her famous cookies and a cup of steaming coffee. You might not get a reading but at least a cookie never hurt anybody. Inside there was a woman, black long hair, around her 50s with long red nails to match her the red cape and on the table with the crystal ball right at the center. Typical. You gave a pleasant smile to the woman, offering her the cookie and beverage. Madame Karma smiled tenderly and felt relieved.

“Thanks a million my dear! Today is a cold day and a cookie is just what I need to get my romantic flow going. All I see in these people, or what they ask, is how their business will be. It’s Valentines Day and no one has asked me about romance!”

“Maybe because they are too stuck up to even think beyond their stupid computers. I call them "Informal Clones" they are too serious and superficial” you giggled.

“Now there is a great opinion I've been waiting to hear all day!” said Madame Karma, she looked at you and up and down “you know I used to have legs like yours, when I was your age.”

“Well you are going to love this cookie, it's called “Legs For Days", plus it's the shape of a cute high heel” You felt proud for your cookie naming abilities it was cute and sassy just like your brand was.

“Oh, god this is the most delicious cookie I have eaten, and trust me I have eaten too many cookies in my life” the medium laughed “What’s your name dear?”

“It’s ___, and I’m assuming you’re Madame Karma?”

“The one, the only, knows all, sees all!” she praised herself raising her arms up dramatically and laughed loudly at her over the top performance. “so tell me ___ how much do I owe you?”

“It’s on the house! I was going to bring it to you earlier, but as you can see my business is full.”

“I always give something in return. Tell you what, how about I read you your fortune as payment for such a wonderful cookie”

“Sounds good” you shrugged. As you sat in front of Madame Karma you started to feel rather giddy. You had always been curious to find out about her future, but never had the time to go to an actual medium.

“You have a bright aura, my dear. It has a tight connection” Madame Karma took out a stack of cards and put them on the table “I will employ the card with you, pick out 6 cards with your left hand” You did as told and gave her the cards. After that Madame Karma put them in groups of three and began to read the first group “This represents your past. I see three people, two men and a woman, I'm guessing they are your mother and father and brother, am I right?” You nodded, lucky guess. “Well I see disapproval in them, especially your father. He didn't want you to open your shop.”

You nodded once more. “He felt that I should go to college and I said I wanted to do a project with a friend. That really didn’t sit well with him being that I was supposed to become a lawyer or even an administrator of a huge company. I never cared for math, I even sucked at it in school so it wasn't great. I went on to this business because it was something I enjoyed.”

“Well just as you mention  I saw that decision in here! Now let’s go to your present. I see a great success in your business, although I see a presence of someone that pulls you down, like a big spine on your back.”

Immediately you thought of the pompous arrogant Min Yoongi that always criticized your business place calling it a waste of time and that the names of your creations were too scandalous. What did that jerk know about creativity?

“what will happen to that spine? Will he go away?”

“Patience, my dear” said Madame “wait till I get to the future. Right now we are in your present. Even though your professional life is boosting with great things, I see your personal life is a bit contrary to it. I see loneliness. No masculine company, but…..”

Oh she knew how to peak your interest… “But what?”

“I see someone on the horizon…”

“Please tell me it someone nice”you begged. It has been a while since you had been on a date, and the last one was a total lame waste of time!

“I see, someone who is hooked into your professional life. Now lets see the last row, that represents your instant future” after reading the last row Madame Karma looked at you with a half smile “do you remember when we talked about that spine up your ass? I can see he is a man, close to you although not in a personal way. Maybe a work partner” she looked at you with a gleam in her eye “do you know who Im talking about?”

“I can think of one man that I consider a spine up my ass” you rolled your eyes “He is the one who takes care of the building.”

“Yes I see he is a man of power.”

“Yeah, a powerful idiot!”

“What's his name?”

“Min Yoongi” you answered “Can you tell me if he will leave soon? Tell me he is going to be transferred to Siberia? Antarctica? Africa?”

“No. On the contrary. His connection with you will change completely. He will change from "pain in my ass" to "I can’t live without him".”

You dropped your jaw and began to laugh your guts off “ Oh that’s a good one! You must be talking about another spine up my ass, because I know it’s not him.

“Sweetheart, I assure you that he is. These are the cards, and Karma doesn't lie. Plus, you can’t escape Karma. If you try to escape from it, you will be forever cursed. And trust me, you don't want that to happen” Madame Karma grabbed your hands and looked at you in the eyes “Min Yoongi, even when you think he is the most insufferable man in the world, is the love of your life.”

_____________________________

Min Yoongi  was looking at you from across the garden and as he saw you, he felt his body feeling tense. There was just something about you that didn't feel right, at least not for him. He didn't understand what it was, but you were strange and you always got to his head making him irritated. Surely it was because of your notorious shop with all those extravagant and sensual names plus the way that you decorated the place was not exactly decent. I mean, who ever called a cookie "Chocolate Orgasm" or a coffee called "Hot, wet, and wild"?

The first day the store opened he went inside for a cappuccino so he could go to work, when suddenly you came to the counter with a great smile and asked him if he wanted the specialty of the day, "A Slow Trip To Pleasure". That happened less than a year a go and he still remember the way he had jumped when he saw such an innocent looking girl pronounce those words. But it was more the amazement of the tone in your voice and the spark in your eye that seemed to invite him as he had stood in shock. He had never been so nervous with a woman in all his life than he had been that day in the coffee shop.

If it weren't for the fact that "Constant Cravings" was the shop that produced more profits in the entire space, he would have canceled your contract a long time ago. Having you around caused too much problems. Especially since you were a complete opposite of him. You were outgoing and outspoken, while he was a calm person who minded his business and just prefered the silence. He preferred the calm of having a boss than doing all by yourself. Every time he would tell you that the way you sold things were too extravagant, but you would just laugh and tell him that it was exactly that extravagance, or more likely the sex appeal, is what sold your items the most.

True it as it may be, it was just too much and there were rules in the contract that established that you must control her decorations, but since no one ever complained things stayed as they were. But soon would come the day that you would regret this, since every time you changed your front window decoration you exploited more and more the theme of sexuality.

He looked around and saw you standing outside of the tent of the medium he had assigned for entertainment for the party. He saw your eyes, looking like two big crystals that shine like the sky in a hot spring day after a great storm. He tried to look away but instead he looked at you up and down looking at every centimeter of your body. You were far from looking sexy compared to the other business women in the party. In fact you were in your uniform, a white blouse and black pants. So then why did he feel so strange? It was ridiculous to feel attracted to a woman who he didn't even know on a personal field. But every time he saw you he imagine your lips moving slowly on him offering him a "Slow Trip To Pleasure".

“Are you going to visit the Medium?”

Yoongi shook his head, as if coming out of a trance and looked beside him. There standing was Hoseok, his best friend, with a cookie in his hand and a great smile, since he was always optimistic.

“Excuse me?” asked Yoongi.

“I said, are you going to go see the medium?”

“Naa! I don't believe in that gibberish!”

“Why don't you calm yourself down and have a good time? It’s your party!” Hoseok cheered him. It was true, he had organized everything to impress the owner of the space who wasn't especially fond of having a party, but seeing the opportunity to get new customers and keep happy his investors. He left Yoongi with the job and he put it in himself to make the best party ever.

Hoseok gave a small punch in his ribs and gave a sneaky smile to Yoongi “Seems like ____ is getting her cards read.”

“You know her?” Yoongi asked surprised.

“How can I not know the owner of the coffee shop that is close to my office? She is a very sweet gal.”

“Sweet wouldn't be the right term to describe her” said Yoongi smirking.

“You're right, the correct term would be "Intensely Hot"” Hoseok said with a seductive smile. A certain sense of jealousy began to grow in Yoongi's stomach but he didn't listen to it and looked at you.

“Hot? You think so?”

“Are you kidding? You're the manager of the space and you haven't noticed her?”

“ I've noticed her” Yoongi said deffensively

“And haven't you noticed that ____ is a hotty with a body? I mean she is so hot she could make a pool go on fire!”

“Well that may be true but her products and her technique for selling them left much to be desired.”

“Well its those product of hers that keep me alive! Yesterday I tried this new cookie called "Sugar kiss" and I'm telling you, that woman can make a grown man cry with them! They are extremely delicious! I wished she could make this cookie called "Wild Sex In The Back Seat Of A Car", I would sure try that…..with her.”

Yoongi looked at his best friend with a death glare and  Hoseok smiled innocently “Sorry dude, I forgot I was walking on your turf.”

“What in blazes are you talking about?”

“Dude, you gave me the death glare! That means you are interested in her. Plus you haven't stopped looking at her since she went into the tent. For one thing I'm happy that you finally are into a girl that isn't a total stuck up. Bad thing for me is now don't have a chance. Maybe she has a sister.”

“Ok I am NOT interested in _____! First of all, if I'm looking at her it’s because I'm trying to see what she is going to do next because she always wants to irritate me by doing something out of the ordinary. Second of all, I am not always interested in stuck up girls. And third of all, if you want her you can have her.”

“If you continue to say that I'm going to end up believing that, and just so you know you do date uptight, stuck up women, all the time! Every girl is a copy of the other! Boring to hell too. But ___ is not boring in any way! Good thing you don't like her cause I've been hitting on her all week and she has been sweet but just that, sweet. Could be she has a boyfriend.”

Yoongi got relieved that you didn't pay attention to Hoseok’s advances but suddenly felt frustrated that there was a possibility you could have a formal boyfriend. Wait, why the hell was he worrying? He didn't care for you personal life!

“Come on, lets get your future read! Maybe we can find out if there is a woman that can shake your chubber! I bet it’s ___!”

“Why don't you go and see about yourself” Yoongi said “You need a woman more than me.”

“I already got a date with a girl I met in the supermarket, her name is Momo and she was talking about Broccoli when I met her.”

“But you hate Broccoli.”

“Well for that babe, it was well worth it. You should’ve seen her body to know what I'm talking about. Besides you need a spin around the town, meet a girl that you can have a good time. When is the last time you had sex?”

“I am not telling you” the last thing Yoongi needed was his best friend laughing at his dried up sex life. He would die of laughter if he knew.

“Yoongi, either you tell me, or I'm going directly to _____ and telling her that you want her.”

“God you're like the nosy brother I never wanted! Two months! There! Happy?”

Hoseok’s jaw dropped “ DUDE! Your dick is going to fall off if you don't do something about it!”

“Oh brother! Do you always think about this or is the Valentines Day spirit swelling you mind and apparently your dick too?” Yoongi rolled his eyes “I am going to see if I can get a girl if it will get you off my case!”

“Ok, but let's have fun tonight, go see the medium, she can tell you about your love life! Maybe ____ can get it to be more fun.”

“NOT HER!”

“Ok but at least she can give us a clue to whom” Hoseok patted him on his shoulder and got him close to the tent and they saw you coming out. You looked at Yoongi and then quickly turned to Hoseok, almost avoiding his gaze.

“Hobi, I'm glad to see you” you smiled tenderl “Are you missing my double coffee with no foam?”

“That and your cookies” he smiled back and winked “they are the best things I have ever had in my life!”

You smiled back and Yoongi could have sworn that seemed to be the most seductive thing. Damn! He loved contagious smiles and particularly this woman had the sexiest contagious smile ever! Curse his bad luck!

“Min Yoongi” You said in a serious voice.

“_____” he greeted.

Seeing Hoseok and Yoongi was an odd match considering the fact that they looked like polar opposites, “Are you acquainted?”

“Yes we are very good friends since high school”  the manager said all serious.

“Now that's something you don't see every day” You laughed.

“It seems you are surprised to see that I have friends.”

“Well at least one who is very charming.”

“I can be charming. I am just not that patient with people who live to irritate me daily with their over the top decorations to a shop that leaves very little to the imagination. The mannequins I saw in the morning on the front window of your shop were completely naked!”

“I'm sorry but my mannequins are completely dressed” you began to protest.

“In an evident way like a slap.”

“Is that an invitation?” your eyes sparked with a flame of anger.

“I didn't know you had violent tendencies.”

“Only with people who irritate me and put me nervous”

“Speaking of nervous” he pointed with her index finger “your front window is….”

“Provocative? Interesting?”

“ Excessive!”

“Thanks for the compliment!” You smiled.

“THAT WAS NOT A COMPLIMENT!”

“Coming from you, the fact that you actually noticed the front window is a compliment in itself. Tell me did you really just look at it or were you so wrapped in yourself that when you were looking at your reflection you accidentally saw it?”

“Evidently our last conversation about the decoration was but alas forgotten” he rolled his eyes, his signature move, “Seeing as how you have such a short attention spam”

“Don't you dare insult my intellect! I know what you said! I know what I said! Don't come up to me with those airs of superiority and insult me.”

“Well if you can remember then you must have not heard”.

“I know how to hear and to remember, but I also know this exquisite word called "ignore" if you want I can get a dictionary for you so you can look it up! Oh and FYI you wouldn't know creativity even if it bit you up the ass!”

“You obviously don't know me”

“Oh I know you very well, Mr. Informal Clone!” you looked at him up and down with certain air of despise.

“I have that feeling too, Miss. I dont ever listen to my boss!” he said ironically, “how lucky for both of us.”

“I wouldn't employ that term in this case. But I see we finally agree in something!”

“I think it is the first time” he smirked.

“Maybe you should come by my shop, I just made a new cookie in the shape of a pair of lips” you smiled before adding “It's called, "BITE ME!"

Hoseok tried his hardest not to laugh but obviously it was in vain. Yoongi turned around and glared at his friend. Damn, he had forgotten about his friend and of Madame Karma as well, who was standing behind you. He scoweled at you and went to Madame Karma

“No thanks, I'm not in the mood for coffee. But maybe you can give hobi, seeing how he LOOOVES your coffee and cookies” then he turned to Madame Karma and shook her hand “Madame Karma I am….”

“Min Yoongi” she whispered amazed.

“Yes, well I came to see if you can tell me my future” he said without showing surprise as to how she could know his name.

“Your aura is bright…. exceptionally bright” Madame Karma said as she saw Yoongi's hand then she turned to you and made a movement with her head “____, dear, please leave. Mr. Min and I have a lot to talk about.”

Yoongi couldn't think of anything he had to ask Madame Karma in particular. He was guessing that she would read some plain old cards say some mumbo jumbo and he would just nod. Then he would thank her and leave. How bad could it be?

[captain-kingliamsqueen]

The True Spirit of Christmas is Love - Liam x Riley

Feedback is always welcome so don't hesitate to leave me a little msg :P

Pairing: Liam x Riley

Summary: Tis the season to be Jolly!

Word Count: 2,631

Masterlist <—–

Tagged : @starstruckzonkoperatorbat  @drakelover78  @queencatherynerhys @devineinterventions2 @jayjay879  @kawairinrin  @hopefulmoonobject @flyawayboo  @gardeningourmet  @blackcatkita  @syltti78  @theroyalweisme  @hhiggs  @mfackenthal  @bruteforcebears @pens-girl-87  @barbaravalentino @umccall71 @darley1101 @crookedslimecreatorpasta  @jamjar84 @starstruckpixelberryhistoryvoid @speedyoperarascalparty @katurrade @scarlettedragon @zeniamiii @annekebbphotography @liam-rhys @xxrainbowprincessxx @perfectprofessorherokid @mynameiskaylabella @marywrites-things @zaffrenotes @cocomaxley @innerpostmentality @alepowell @missevabean @romanticatheart-posts @smalltalk88 @sarwin85 

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I SINCERELLY APPOLOGISE IF I MISSED ANYONE, IM TRYING TO KEEP TRACK OF WHO WANTS TAGGED AND STUFF, IM GONNA PUT A POST OUT TO SEE WHO WANTS TO BE PERMANENTLY TAGGED!

I always notice every single spelling mistake or issue after I’ve posted…so apologies in advance! 

  It was Riley and Liam's first Christmas together, Liam was currently away but was due home that evening…the evening of Christmas eve. Riley had spent the day before making sure all the work that needed done for the next two days was finished, she wanted so much for them to be able to have their first Christmas with as little disruption as possible. It was just after two, Riley was sitting on the bed, carefully packing Liam's Christmas eve box. She had spent the morning wrapping the presents she had gotten him as she sang along to her favourite Christmas songs. Riley had grown up with the tradition of Christmas eve boxes. Her family done it like secret Santa so whomever you got, you had to make them a box for Christmas eve, the box containing a couple of early gifts to get everyone looking forward to Santa coming. Riley was a huge Christmas celebrated. Riley loved everything about it: The music, the chill, the snow, the decorations, the time you got to spend with your family and friends. 

Riley had wrapped the bottom of the box in Christmas wrapping paper, she had all of Liam's little gifts sitting around her, she started filling the box with everything she knew he would love…and even if he didn’t, he would tell her he did. She didn’t mind. The first thing to go into the box was the cheesiest Christmas jumper she could fine. She knew he would hate it, but he would also wear it, for her. The next thing was some new Christmas pjs, red tartan pants and just a plain white t shirt with a Christmas tree on it as Riley placed them in the box she sang along to her stereo.

“I really can't stay” Riley sang then let singer finish   *but baby, it's cold outside* “I've got to go away” *but baby, it's cold outside*

“This evening has been” *been hoping that you'd drop in* “So very nice”     *I’ll hold your hands, they're just like ice*

“My mother will start to worry” *beautiful what's your hurry? * “My father will be pacing the floor” *listen to the fireplace roar*

“So really I'd better scurry” *beautiful please don't hurry* “But maybe just a half a drink more” *put some records on while I pour*

 After that she placed the best Christmas movie she knew inside the box…Elf. She knew Liam hadn’t seen it before. After the DVD was put in, the next was a personalised Christmas bauble that she had gotten made for their first Christmas together. The box was topped off with a box of Liam's favourite Chocolate liqueurs. Once everything was in, she placed the lid on-top then wrapped the box in ribbon. Adding a name tag at the end.

Once she was finished she headed for the living room, where she placed the box under the tree.

“Ahhh but baby its cold outside!!!” Riley sang to herself as she headed for the kitchen where she started on her Christmas cookie recipe. it was whilst she was waiting on them baking, as she was washing the dished, that her phone started ringing. Riley smirked knowing exactly who it was, she wiped her hands on her jeans then lifted her phone to her ear after pressing answer.

“hey sweetie” she could hear him smiling

“hey! How was your meeting?”

“it was great, we got the deal, but the best part about it? I’m on my way home”

“really? You’re on your way?”

“yeah, I’m just about to board the plane, I should be home in time for dinner”

“really? I thought I was going to have to eat alone!” she chuckled

“not tonight sweetie!”

“I have the best evening planned”

“you do?”

“Mhmmm just you and me, we can forget about everything else and just be married”

“that sounds amazing, I can’t wait”

“me either”

“listen, I have to go, but my flights due to land at five pm so I should be back at the palace for half past”

“okay, have a safe flight and I’ll see you soon”

“see you soon sweetie, I love you”

“I love you too, Liam.”

After the two hung up, Riley carried on with washing the dishes she had used, whilst singing to herself

“They're singing "Deck the Halls But it's not like Christmas at all ‘Cause I remember when you were here And all the fun we had last year Pretty lights on the tree I'm watching them shine You should be here with me Baby please come home”

After removing the cookies from the oven, she set them on the side to cool then she went to shower. By the time Riley had showered and dressed Liam would have just been landing at the airport.

“it’s absolutely freezing in here…” Riley mumbled as she pulled her Christmas jumper over her t shirt “but I love it!” She smirked

Whilst Riley waited for Liam to get back she moved the cookies from the tray and placed them on a plate, ready to be decorated. Riley was just heading to the living room, walking past the hallway to the door, when the door opened, and she was met with her husband’s handsome face.

“hey!” she smiled as she ran over and hugged him, Liam dropped his bag on the floor and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in for a sweet kiss.

“hey sweetie!” he mumbled into her lips.

“don’t you look nice and warm” he smiled as they separated “it’s absolutely freezing out there!”

“I know, it’s so cold, your freezing! Come on, let’s get warmed up a bit” Riley smiled as they headed for the kitchen where she flicked the kettle on then pulled some mugs from the cupboard.

“tea, coffee or hot chocolate?” Riley asked as she turned her back to Liam who was sitting at the island…with the cookies. Liam had a devilish grin on his face as he reached over to get one.

“you touch those cookies ill cut your fingers off” Riley chuckled, she knew exactly what he was like.

“just one?”

“fine…you can have one!”

“thank you! And ill have some hot cocoa…please” as he took a bite of the cookie. “Mmmm”

Just a few minutes later Riley placed a mug in-front of him and held her own in her hands.

“thank you” Liam smiled as he lifted the mug to his lips. “Ahhh I needed that” he smirked

The two were sitting in the living room chatting, with the fire burning to keep the place warm. “I have a gift for you!” Riley chuckled as she got up from the sofa and went over to the Christmas tree.

“a gift? riley-”

“don’t even say it!” she laughed as she lifted two box’s and made her way back over to Liam.

“it’s a Christmas eve box” she smiled as she passed Liam his box

“a what?” he smirked

“a Christmas eve box…it was a tradition in my house, that each person got a Christmas eve box, it’s filled with things that get you all excited about Christmas” she giggled

“but I didn’t get you a Christmas eve box” he frowned

“but that’s okay because I got me one” she smirked as she lifted the second box to show him causing Liam to laugh.

“go on open it!”

Liam carefully unwrapped the ribbon from the box, then lifted the lid.

“mmm my favourite” Liam smiled as he lifted the box of chocolates and placed them on the table. “we can destroy those later” he chuckled then he went quiet as he lifted the bauble from the box.

“Riley, I love it!” he whispered longingly as he stood and hung it on the tree then he sat back down, placing the box on his knee, looking at what was next…

“Elf?” he asked

“It’s based in New York” she informed him

“it is?”

“yup!”

“well then we have to watch it!” he laughed as he put it on-top of the box of chocolates.

“what’s this?” he asked as he lifted the pjs.

“Christmas jammies” Riley grinned. Liam couldn’t help but adore how much she loved the holidays. “I need you warm, so you can keep me warm” she giggled causing Liam to let out chuckle.

“is that a jumper?”

“Mhmmm…your very own cheesy Christmas jumper” she smirked

“I love it” he laughed “thank you sweetheart” he leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss on her lips.

“now…what would you like for dinner? I was thinking maybe we could get take out?”

“that sounds great, I’ll have Bastian send someone out” Liam replied as he got up and went to the door. whilst they waited for their food they went to change into their new nightwear. Then headed for the kitchen where they started decorating the cookies Riley had made.

“did you ever get to do this when you were a kid?” Riley asked

“yes, when my mother was alive, we would make cookies and she and I would sit and decorate them together, then we would wrap them out and hand them out to the palace staff, Leo never wanted to do anything like that and my father was always in meetings and everything, so it was just me and her. All of this…the decorations…the cookies, just all of this” he gestured to around the room “it all reminds me of her…you’re a lot like my mother in that way, she adored the holidays, it wasn’t the presents, it was the time you spent with your family, even if you were just watching a movie or something, you were together. after my mother died, my father buried himself even more in his work, Leo was nowhere to be found, I was on my own, I didn’t get to decorate cookies and put up decorations. Getting to do all of this again…it makes me think of her” he smiled then leaned over and pressed his lips against Riley's. “thank you” he whispered “my mother would have loved you” he smirked “I just wish you had gotten the chance to meet her”

“me too sweetie, I love hearing stories about her, I think we would have been joined at the hip” she chuckled “I can’t wait to have children and share all of this with them too”

“I can’t wait” he grinned

It was six thirty by the time their food was brought to them, whilst Riley put the DVD on the TV Liam poured the two of them drinks then brought them to the sitting room. they both cuddled up on the sofa whilst they ate their food and watched the movie.

It was about twenty minutes into the movie. Riley grinned as she dropped her slice of pizza back into the box “I love this song!!!! I wish I knew how…to break this spell!!” she sang along causing Liam to chuckle.

“I really can’t stay…Ahhh but its cold outside!!”

“this is one of my favourite movies!” she grinned as she carried on eating.

“I can tell” Liam chuckled

After the movie finished Riley turned to Liam with a huge grin on her face… “so…what did you think?”

“it was good” Liam smirked

“tell the truth…you loved it!” she chuckled

“okay…it was a great film”

“I knew it! would you like some mulled wine?”

“that sounds lovely” he nodded

“come on then, you better help me make it”

The two headed for the kitchen where Riley taught Liam how to make her mother’s famous mulled wine.

“my goodness Riley, it smells amazing”

“It smells like Christmas” she smiled as she carefully ladled the wine into mugs, then the two headed into the living room where they sat on the sofa, the only light in the room being the fireplace. They sipped on their drinks as they talked, whilst the radio played softly in the background.

“so, tell me…what was the best gift you ever got for Christmas?” Liam asked

“when I was little, I was always loved cooking, I was always asking to help my mom in the kitchen, we would bake cookies, cupcakes, she would let me help her with dinner, I loved it, I told my mom, when I’m older, I wanna cook like you. My mom, she was an amazing cook, when she was a kid she was diagnosed with dysgraphia, which means she struggled to write properly, she couldn’t form sentences on paper, actually writing was a real problem for her, when she was talking, it was fine but getting it onto paper was really difficult for her, she wouldn’t write cards, she wouldn’t write letters or email… when I was about twelve, I woke up on Christmas morning, my mom handed me this box, when I opened it, there was this book inside, when I opened it, it contained just a plain notebook…I opened it, and…I’m sorry” Riley wiped at her eyes

“it’s okay, take your time” Liam smiled comfortingly

“in the book, she had written down, every one of her recipes…thirty two A4 pages…she had hand written, she told me he had been working on it for months, she could only do a couple of sentences at a time because of how much her dysgraphia affected her…that is the best gift I ever got, I still have it.” she smiled

“wow” Liam whispered, speechless from her story.

“homemade gifts are the best kind…they mean so much more…it means the person actually sat down and put thought into your gift…they took time out of their life to think about you... I would take a home-made gift over a purchased one, any day of the week”

“me too” Liam smirked.

The two spent the rest of the night laughing and talking away, it was just before midnight, when Liam stood from the sofa.

“I’ll be back in a moment, I need to use the bathroom” Liam kissed Riley's head then left the room, heading for the bathroom.

Riley stood from the sofa, walking over to the window, she smiled as she watched the snow fall outside. it was just a few moments later that she heard Liam's footsteps, his arms snaking around her waist, with his chin resting gently on her shoulder.

“penny for your thoughts?” Liam whispered

“I can’t wait to have a family with you…I can already see us sitting around the tree on Christmas mornings, our babies ripping the paper from the presents, too excited to even think about the mess” she chuckled “their faces when they see the presents Santa left them…the excitement…I can see it all” she smiled as she gently turned and looked at him.

“you know what? so can I” Liam whispered as he leaned down and placed the most loving gentle kiss on her lips. “I love you Riley, more than you know” he added in the same tone

“I love you too, Liam” she whispered before leaning in to peck his lips.

“Bells will be ringing, the glad, glad news…”

“I love this song” Riley whispered just audible

“dance with me” Liam smirked as they moved to the middle of the floor, the two swayed as one as the music played softly.

“Friends and relations send salutations Just as sure as the stars shine above (Yes, they do) This is Christmas, Christmas my dear The time of year to be with the one that you love”

Liam smirked as he looked at the clock on the wall.

“Merry Christmas, baby” he whispered before slowly pressing his lips to her, she quickly responded, with her hand gently placed on his jaw, for what felt like hours their lips moved in sync. As they gently pulled back Riley nuzzled into his chest with their arms wrapped tightly around each other.

“Merry Christmas, Baby” Riley whispered.

If you like it...Give it a wee Reblog <3

[canaryatlaw]

well, today was draining. not in a great place emotionally at the moment, I’ll get into that. I woke up at 9:30 to my alarm and met Jess for brunch at the vegetarian place, once we finished there we walked back to where her car was parked by her apartment and started our thrift store adventures for the day. The goal was to find jean jackets to send to one of our friends who paints them with custom stuff that’s very cool. So we started at a salvation army that’s north of us that we don’t normally go to and that didn’t have much, so we moved on to our regular stops, hitting up a few salvation armies. Somewhere in the middle of this I opened twitter to find that Christian blogger and author Rachel Held Evans had died early this morning after being in the hospital for about two weeks. She was 37 and left behind two little kids- a 3 year old boy and a girl who’s not even 1 yet. To say I was gutted by this news would be an understatement, but I’ll get more into that later. We eventually found jackets at a unique thrift store, then went on to the big salvation army to see if there were any other things we wanted to pick up but ended up not getting anything. so we drove back to Jess’ place and I walked home from there. Once I got home I had some lunch, and then made a quick run to the grocery store to grab some ingredients for my culinary projects of the day as well as the meals I’m going to be cooking during the week. Once I got back I moved on to said culinary projects, the first of which being making cookie dough for this recipe that’s supposed to be the best chocolate chip cookies, they’ve never been my favorite but I still like them and the recipe seemed to have a lot of potential, so I spent a while putting that together and then letting the dough chill in the fridge overnight as part of the process to “develop deeper flavors” or some shit like that. I then moved on to phase two which I’m not going to get into the details of right now because it’s going to be a surprise for somebody so that’s gonna be a secret for now, but suffice to say it turned out very well and I’m pleased with it. Somewhere in all of this I ended up getting into a bit of a tiff with my dad over text, he texted me saying that my mom was at a pro-life rally in times square and he was watching the live stream online. okay sure that’s all nice, but the organization hosting the rally happened to also be extremely anti-LGBT and huge proponents of conversion therapy and has gone as far as telling Christian parents to throw their lgbt children out of their houses. So I texted my dad saying I couldn’t really take them seriously knowing their disregard for the lives of vulnerable LGBT children, and he said you can’t equate the two, and I responded that you can’t separate the two- if you want to claim the moniker “pro-life” you must be pro EVERY life, no matter if it’s convenient for you or not. So he responded with something like well can you be pro-life and support the death penalty? and I was like ?????? no?????? how is that even a question???? that’s inherently hypocritical on so many levels. I guess he didn’t want to fight anymore because he just responded “ok” to that, but I was really worked up about all of it, and of course that being compounded by the loss the progressive Christian community suffered this morning I was feeling quite emotional about it. Once that was all done I grabbed my computer and sat down on the couch, and put on the last few episodes of the big family cooking showdown. More so during this time though I started going through tweets and hashtags about Rachel Held Evans (RHE) and just ended up crying a lot, for a while. I really can’t explain in words how much her work meant to me. It’s really not an exaggeration to say she basically saved my faith when I was ready to walk away from a church I felt had betrayed me and everything I’d been taught. I first started really following her in 2014, specifically after the “World Vision Incident” that was the final straw for me and any form of evangelicalism. I didn’t know where to go from there, and her work showed me that God is so much bigger than the efforts of flawed human beings, and while they might fail me they do not have a monopoly on Christianity and there is plenty of room for those who disagree with cancelling child sponsorships because the organization dared allow gay Christian employees to work for them. This was even before Trump came on the scene and seemingly every evangelical completely abandoned all of the beliefs they raised me in to follow a hateful, vile man, including my own parents. The feeling of betrayal was so real and so raw. If I didn’t wholeheartedly know that God was real and that I could be a Christian without affirming any of that, I absolutely would’ve lost my faith. And my faith is so important to me. It’s what keeps me going every day, it’s what makes me want to make the world a better place, it’s what gives me so much passion and fire behind my convictions. So I ended up spending most of the night going through those tweets and basically just crying for most of the time. When I was done with the cooking show I switched to cable to see what was on and discovered Adam Sandler was hosting SNL (I hadn’t even processed that it would be on) so I watched that for the rest of the night while continuing to go through tweets and articles and crying. And I felt so convicted by the realization that she was only 10 years older than me, and she accomplished so much in her life. Can I do nearly as much in the next 10 years? I don’t know. I’ve felt so discouraged lately about all of it because the job situation has been so bleak and it feels impossible for me to actually get a job that I want to do, that actually allows me to help people. I feel so stuck by it all. But. But God. I am renewed with hope and belief that the right things will fall together and I will be able to pursue the passion that I know God put in my heart, even if I can’t do it right away. So yeah, a lot of heavy stuff swirling around my brain for the night. After SNL I showered and got ready for bed and now I’m here, it’s past 2 am and I have church in the morning; at least I get an extra half hour of sleep because I’m in the babies room for the last service, so I don’t have to get there earlier than the start of the second service, so there’s that at least, but I’m still going on 6 hours of sleep if I fall asleep....now. So I should definitely go to bed now, hopefully my heavy heart will be somewhat lighter when I awake. Goodnight lovelies. Hope you had a lovely Saturday.

[rorykillmore]

okay i’m actually gonna try to post these before i leave Just in case i can’t get the wifi to work at the place i’m staying

so this first gift fic is for @jougletmann who requested something with camille and amma, specifically related to the night amma actually spent on denny when jay yolo’d her! while writing this i actually realized it was really my first time, not only writing in earnest for this very complicated dynamic, but writing something so intense for camille (despite the fact that i’ve rped her for awhile) so i actually really loved the opportunity to do that? for a little while i felt bad because the other two christmas fics i have done are so. fluffy and christmas-y. and then you have this, which got pretty Real towards the end. but jay just knowing how much you loved sharp objects, i hope you’ll love it anyways

anyway... jay, for two years in a row now my mom has asked us some of the best things that have happened to us in the past year, and i’ve like, immediately thought of meeting you and spear. i’m just so grateful to have you in my life and i always want to make sure you know that because i know that sometimes your kindness and generosity have been taken advantage of. so thank you for being so caring and thoughtful and always knowing how to make me laugh. merry christmas!!

(jay probs doesn’t need these warnings but for anyone else, cw for like, discussions of abuse and references to self-harm)

All we can do is try, Amma. You want a little bit of control when your life has gone to absolute shit – it helps to say you’ve tried.

When they get home (not home, it’s just the easiest way to refer to the apartment Camille’s renting in Metropolis) it’s much later than Adora would have ever let Amma stay out. Not that Camille takes that to mean that this is the latest Amma has ever stayed out – she’s not that naive. She’s been a teenager under Adora’s roof herself, after all. And she knows Amma.

(Maybe now with more clarity than she’d like.)

“I have a spare bedroom you can have,” she tells Amma once they’re inside. “It’s not really made up or anything, but I’m sure I can find you some spare pillows and blankets for tonight.”

Once, Amma might have sulked at that, or worse asked to sleep with Camille – but maybe all their time spent living together has weaned her off that, or maybe she knows that the prospect would have left Camille just the slightest bit chilled. She feels a twinge of guilt at that. She doesn’t want to be afraid of her own sister.

“We don’t have to go to sleep right now, though, do we?” Amma asks instead, pulling Camille out of her thoughts.

“It’s late, Amma.”  She glances at the digital clock on the table, which reads 1:46 AM.

Amma slumps herself down on the couch.  “I’m not tired.”

“Well, you should try and sleep anyway. Tomorrow’ll be a long day, with getting you settled, and everything.”

Clearly the prospect doesn’t interest Amma, because she doesn’t move or say anything. Instead she spends a few moments sizing up the room they’re in.  “Kinda sparse, compared to your old place.”

“I haven’t been here very long,” Camille points out.  “Honestly, I’ve never been very good at… decorating. Everything from back home was just kinda clutter.”

Amma smiles a sly smile.  “Mama hated clutter.”

Camille thinks she really ought to be over these kinds of reactions by now, but it does make her inadvertently freeze, just for a moment. Amma’s watching her closely, and she thinks it might have been the reaction Amma wanted. Or else Amma was hoping for A reaction, anyway.

It used to bother Camille, back when they were still getting to know each other, the way Amma pokes and prods pulls things from people. Often times a little too hard, a little too cruelly. Now, though, she at least understands the why of it: Amma tugs at other people’s boundaries because Adora gave her too many and too few at the same time. Amma had to pry things out of her mother to receive the bare minimum of attention and affection when she wasn’t sick, so now she tries to pry things out of everyone. It’s how she learned control.

For all that she’s standing around psychoanalyzing her sister, Camille’s not sure she knows what to do to curb Amma’s meaner tendencies. She thought for a while that just a safer, more stable environment would make things better, but then –

Well.

“Amma,” Camille says, slowly sitting down next to her on the couch.  “About Mama –”

It’s subtle, especially because she’s only watching Amma out of the corner of her eye - as if looking at Amma directly might make her feel cornered, or something - but Amma goes a little tense. It’s enough to cause Camille to trip herself up, because honestly, she doesn’t really know what she’s doing. Doesn’t know how to talk about this, even when ignoring it feels impossible and irrational.

“What do you have in your kitchen?”  Amma asks abruptly in her usual brand of deflection.  “We should make something.”

It’s pretty transparent, and Camille thinks that a more responsible person might have called Amma on it. But all she hears herself say is, “Make something?” Which she supposes about lines up with the general amount (or lack of) resolve she approached the situation with.

“Yeah. Like cookies, or cupcakes, or… something. You know how to bake?”

Camille considers that. She certainly wouldn’t have learned from Adora, or even Jackie, well-meaning as she’d always been when Camille was a child, but she used to sneak around helping Gayla out in the kitchen when she could sneak away from her mother’s prying eyes long enough. She wonders if she can remember any of those old recipes, let alone scrounge something together from whatever bare bones stuff she’s got in the kitchen.

“I know how to try to bake,” she settles on finally. Amma grins. “But seriously, wouldn’t you rather just go to bed? You’ve gotta be exhausted.”  If Amma won’t talk to her, really talk to her, then the least Camille can do is make sure she takes care of herself.

Predictably, though, Amma shakes her head stubbornly. “If you make me go to bed, all that’ll happen is I’ll lie awake for hours with just my own thoughts. I’d much rather have you for company.”

That’s a little manipulative of her, but it’s also probably objectively true. Camille thinks her own thoughts and feelings are a little too tangled up for any good decision-making tonight, so after another brief hesitation, she rises. “Well, I’m tired,” she says just for good measure. When isn’t she. “So if I pass out, don’t let the apartment burn down.”

Amma beams and bounces up with more energy than Camille thinks is reasonable. She loops her arm around Camille’s and holds on all the way to the kitchen, and Camille bits back that familiar, dangerous feeling of being tempted to lower her guard completely just because of that sisterly affection she’s been missing since Marian. She pries herself loose once they’ve reached their destination and starts checking the cupboards.

“Alright, let’s try chocolate chip cookies. Mostly ‘cause I know I bought chocolate chips the other week.”  She’s pretty sure there’s some flour under the sink, too. And sugar, because she puts it in her coffee every morning.  “Get some eggs out of the fridge.”

Amma zips off like she’s on a mission, and then gets out a mixing bowl and a pan while Camille gathers the rest of the ingredients a little more slowly. It turns out that they do have just enough to make some - very basic - chocolate chip cookies.

“These are not gonna be as good as Gayla’s,” she warns Amma ahead of time.

Amma just shrugs. “At least we can say we made ‘em.”

Camille preheats the oven and then, sleeves rolled up, they make the dough. It’s about as messy a process as she expects it to be, but Amma seems to enjoy it – especially the part where she delights in flicking flour at Camille. Camille flicks some back, and soon they’re both covered in it and it’s going to be a hell of a cleanup, but Camille can’t remember the last time she actually had a reason to laugh like this. She even lets Amma add extra chocolate chips to the dough, because they’re already on a roll.

“How long do they have to bake for?” Amma asks.

Camille - who has long since given up following this recipe from memory - checks her phone to consult the one she found online.  “Just ten minutes. Quick and easy.”

Amma smiles and slides the tray into the oven very carefully. And then they’re both left to wait.

Camille wonders if Amma realizes as soon as she does that the elephant in the room feels a lot heavier with so much waiting to do. But Amma’s still smiling at her like she always does whenever Camille’s done something to make her happy.

“I never thought that anything would ever be like this,” she confesses at length. “Like, I never really thought about other worlds existing. Not even stuff like Heaven or Hell.”

Camille wonders what kind of light that puts the blood on Amma’s hands in – or whether she ever wondered herself where she might go, because Marian always wondered about death and what happened afterwards, like she knew it was coming. Is Amma telling the truth when she says she hasn’t thought about it at all?

But she can’t linger on it for long, because Amma continues, “But I’m glad we’re here. A whole different world away from everyone else. Just me and you. It’s perfect.”

Camille feels that strange chill again, but this time it mingles with concern. She’s conscious now more than ever how much Amma has latched onto her, and how little Amma feels she needs anyone else.

“There’s a lot to do here,” she ventures carefully. “Like I was saying back at that building in New York, Amma. You could do plenty of things here you never got a chance to do before.”

Amma’s expression doesn’t shift much. “Like what?”

“Like… I dunno. See things. Meet people. There’s a whole world outside of Wind Gap.”

Is it dangerous to even offer Amma the chance? And how can she do anything but?

Amma says silent for a few moments, and Camille can’t be sure what she’s thinking.  “Are you still writing?” she asks suddenly at length.

Camille nods. “I’m working for the Daily Planet now. It’s this paper in Metropolis.”

“Metropolis,” Amma repeats, half curious and half disdainful.  “What a weird name for a city.”

“Mm. Maybe I’ll take you to see it for yourself, sometime.”

“Really?” Amma beams at her just for the offer, and Camille can’t help but smile back faintly. “Then I’ll get to see where you work! And all those stories you’re probably working on.”

“I’m not… working on much, at the moment.” Camille shrugs, downplaying on instinct. “I’ve only been here a few weeks, so. It’s gonna take awhile for things to get interesting.”

Amma goes strangely quiet at that. She looks away and watches the timer on the oven count down for a few seconds. “I bet you’ll find something good,” she says finally, and Camille wonders for a moment why she suddenly seems so subdued. Then Amma continues, “You’ll find a way to tell a story that helps people. Just like you did back home.”

In the first place, that’s a matter of opinion. For all the secrets she uncovered back in Wind Gap, most of them were revealed too late, and Camille’s not really sure who she helped in the end. But even that aside, there’s something more concerning about this:  it’s the first time she’s heard Amma refer to what happened with the girls she killed, even indirectly.

Camille knows she’s most likely not going to get a better opportunity to approach this. She watches Amma for awhile, her heart thumping in her chest, and then she says, “Amma. We’ve really gotta talk about that.”

It takes a couple of slow seconds for Amma to turn back to face her. “I really don’t want to talk about it,” she counters, calm but on the verge of petulant.

But Camille thinks there must be some deeply buried part of Amma that does, or she wouldn’t have alluded to what she had just now. “What do you expect me to do, forget it ever happened? You know I can’t do that. Especially not if you’re living with me.”

“So send me away again,” Amma suggests suddenly, and stares at her. A challenge.

Camille shuts her mouth, feeling like her jaw’s suddenly been tightly wired. “That wasn’t my choice.”

“Yes it was,” Amma insists, her composure starting to crack just a little. “You’re the one who turned me in.”

It’s irrational to feel guilty over the accusation, but Camille supposes she’s never been good at particularly rational feelings. “I had to, Amma. You killed Mae. Just like you killed Ann and Natalie.”

Something about finally saying it aloud, laying it all out, feels like it causes everything in the room to still. Amma glares at her, and Camille’s a little stunned to see that she looks like she’s on the verge of tears.

“You’re my sister,” she seethes finally.  “You’re supposed to choose me over them.”

“Amma, that’s not –”

“But you didn’t! You got me locked up just like you got Mama locked up!”

It’s a gutpunch she wasn’t expecting, and Camille finds herself speechless, almost breathless. She stares at Amma, and Amma stares back, and both of them just stay sort of frozen for a moment.

“Amma,” Camille says slowly but with a kind of understated urgency. “She was making you sick.”

Amma sort of shudders, but Camille can’t tell whether it’s in revulsion or defiance. “Only ‘cause I let her.”

“No, Amma, it only felt like you had a choice. She was making you sick, and if someone hadn’t stopped her, she would’ve killed you just like she killed Marian.”

Camille has talked about this before – not with Amma, but with several of the therapists she tried to get Amma help with when they’d moved back to her apartment together. They had all told her some variation of the same thing: Amma has trouble processing what happened to her because she still loves Adora, or because Adora’s abuse entailed a dynamic where Amma felt she had control, and admitting her victimhood relinquishes that control. Probably, realistically, some combination of both.

Those same doctors, likely sensing Camille’s loathing of her mother and inability to understand Amma’s continued desire for contact with her, have always warned against this kind of direct confrontation. But in this moment, it suddenly seems desperately important that Amma understand all the ways Adora had been hurting her.

But then Amma actually starts to cry in earnest, and Camille feels immediate regret well up inside her. The oven goes off, and she vaguely registers that it’s been ten minutes, but she can’t bring herself to tear her attention away from her sister.

And for all that Camille has been grappling with the part of her that’s now afraid of Amma all evening, she doesn’t hesitate. It’s instinct to go and take her sister in her arms and hold her close.

Amma fights it a little at first, and Camille is reminded fleetingly of that stupid ‘therapy technique’ they used to do - I love you, I love you, I love you - and just holds on even tighter until Amma relents and slumps against her and cries.

“I’m fucked up,” Amma chokes out, though Camille can barely make it out between the sobs. “I’m so fucked up, and I’m never gonna get better.”

Camille shushes her and strokes her hair, silently grateful that at least Amma isn’t in any state to notice the tears in Camille’s eyes that don’t quite fall. She wonders if she’s just forgotten how to cry, at this point. If this and everything she’s been through up ‘til now doesn’t get her, she can’t picture anything else in her life pushing her over the edge.

“Hey,” she says finally, after a few minutes of just letting Amma cry.  She pulls away and makes Amma look at her, still stroking her hair.  “You know what, I’ve – I’ve said the same thing to myself. A lot.”

Amma stares at her, a more numb kind of shock settling over her features, and Camille tries for a very shaky smile.  “C’mon, it can’t be that surprising.”

“You’ve never killed anybody,” Amma points out in a quiet, more hoarse voice.

Camille has to concede Amma’s point - and the fact that she doesn’t really know how to pull someone back from something like that - but she doesn’t falter. “I’ve done a lot of bad things. To other people, and to myself. You think if I showed people all the things I carved into myself they’d think there was any putting me back together?”

She thinks of Richard, the way he’d looked at her once he’d seen all the scars. The way he’d looked at her every time since.

There’s silence. Maybe Amma doesn’t know what to say to that, or she just doesn’t want to answer. Camille has to steady herself with a slow breath, because she knows she’s not good at this, but why stop now?

“But I haven’t – I haven’t done that in awhile. And a few years ago I never thought I’d be able to say that. And I can now. That’s something.”

She watches Amma closely. Amma seems to waver a little, licking her lips, looking uncertainty at Camille and then anywhere but. And then she stills.  “Something’s burning.”

– Oh.  

She’s right, Camille realizes, and then remembers why a second later.

“Shit. The cookies,” she mutters, grabbing one of the over mitts they set out and hurrying over to pull the tray out of the oven. The cookies look like some of them might still be edible, but many of them are charred around the edges. Camille tries not to wince visibly. Couldn’t even have one nice thing.  She spends a few seconds inspecting them, mostly because she doesn’t know how to dive back into that conversation with Amma after the fragility of the moment was broken.

“If I can’t be better,” Amma says suddenly to break the silence, and Camille stops what she’s doing. “If I can’t, then – won’t it just be worse than if I never tried at all?”

Camille wants to tell Amma that she can. Amma is so young, and it seems like there’s still so much time. She’s not sure what she’d peg the cut off age for not being a lost cause at, but she’s pretty sure it’s not thirteen.

But maybe that’d just be too much pressure too soon. So instead, she says, “All we can do is try, Amma. You want a little bit of control when your life has gone to absolute shit – it helps to say you’ve tried.” Camille turns around to face her again.  “And if you promise not to hurt anyone else… I won’t leave you, this time.”

It’s not a promise she can technically guarantee, thanks to the way the rifts work – but then again, it’s not like they’re not going back to the same world. Even if things might be about a hundred times more difficult there.

Slowly, Amma wipes the wetness from her cheeks and starts to pull herself together the way she is so strangely capable of. She still looks oddly fragile to Camille, in a different way than she did when she’d been sitting at that dinner table in a haze of sickness and Camille’d had to feign weakness to draw Adora’s attention away.

“If I believed you… then what would we do next?”

Camille exhales slowly. “Well. I guess the cookies might be a lost cause.” The joke feels hollow, but Amma’s lips twitch briefly anyway as she gives the tray a belated side glance. “So apart from that, I – I’m not really sure what to do either. Except take it one day at a time. We can do that.”

Amma considers that very carefully, and then nods. Camille bites back a dozen apologies that probably won’t do much good, and might not even make that much sense, and focuses on a small sliver of hope.

The women in their family have a long legacy of being broken, so it seems. But maybe not always beyond repair.

[thesmithfamily08]

January 2, 2021

Woohoo, We have made it to a new year!  

Christmas was really great this year, the kids all ended up with too much stuff as always.  Max got the new zelda game and a case, Penny got a ton of art supplies, and Lily got a supermarket store toy.  They all seemed pretty stoked on Christmas morning, Robby and I got each other gifts this year too which is years past we usually have not.  I got a new purse and a ton of awesome fuzzy socks, also a new hair dryer which I really needed.  I got Rob an ancestry thing which I’m totally excited for his information to come back from.  I also got him a Keurig coffee maker.  We had three other Christmas events, the first one was with Katie and Daniel and Gwen and John’s house.  This one almost didn’t happen because 2 weeks before Katie got covid, then quickly after Daniel got it too.  They just missed the quarantine window and were able to come.  They are fine, they did both lose their sense of smell and taste for a while and were pretty down for a couple days.  We also celebrated at my dads house on Christmas Eve and then we went to Jesse’s house on Christmas Day with my mom and Mike.  Overall it was a really nice chill holiday, this is the one year when not having a huge family worked out well because we were able to be with everyone relatively safely.

The vaccine is now available, but only for certain groups of people.  It started with front line people at hospitals and now we are in phase 2 which includes other nurses and health care people, along with people who live in large communities like nursing homes and prisons.  My mom got one just this last week!  I have a feeling we are kind of at the end of this but people are saying a lot of things may still be shut down and masks may still be around well into 2022.  I am just not sure how to feel about it all, it really hasn’t effected the schools nearly as much as I would have thought.  The kids all go back to school in 2 days so hopefully they will make it through the rest of the school year without any more issues.  I am pretty upset still about not getting to go on any field trips or getting to see their holiday or graduation programs, but in the end I’m happy they are at least getting to go to school and not having to have me be their teacher mom anymore!

On another happy note, I booked Disney again!! 2021 is going to be our year, and it is totally going to happen.  I have a condo right by Disney booked and I rebooked our plane tickets!  I feel a little less excited then I did about this a year ago I think just because there is always a chance it wont be able to happen.  I am trying to have faith it’ll all work out.  

Katie’s baby Caroline is growing!  Katie is about 30 weeks now, we have just under 2 months until she is due!  We are so excited to meet her, the baby shower is going to be in 2 weeks.  I’ve been stressing out about it more than I usually do things like this but I think I have gotten it all figured out at this point.  I have been feeling a little unmotivated lately.  Which has just been stressing me out and not helping with actually getting anything accomplished.  Either way the shower is in two weeks and hopefully I’ll have it all figured out by then...

I got to watch Miles, Natalie’s baby for 3 days at the beginning of Christmas break.  He is a really good baby, he is just over 6 months now and almost sitting up on his own.  He seems to hate all baby food and spits it all up but he doesn’t cry much.  He naps really well but man he doesn’t like to be left alone.  He wants to be held 24/7!  The kids were all really big helpers, Penny especially seemed to really enjoying playing with him.  I ended up making like 5 batches of cookies and 4 pies one of the days I was watching for Christmas and Penny helped me play with him when I couldn’t.

So Max had his wellness appointment at the beginning of December.  He is at the 30 percentile which kind of surprised me because I felt like he was always around the 50 percentile but the Dr said he was about the same at last year.  Either way he is 4 ft and 4 inches and weighs 59 lbs.  He had only been to the dr once since his last wellness appointment, when he and Penny were sick over the summer.  Pretty impressive when they can go that long without being too sick!  He made a new friend at school this year which has been so great, I know he was really wanting to find a friend who he actually got along with and I think that has finally happened.  His name is Aiden and he came and spent the night with us on New Years eve!  The boys were both asleep around 11 and I was just after them, haha...we watched the ball drop in NYC time and that was enough for us!  He is getting ready to go to Aiden's house to stay tonight too, this will be his second time staying the night with a friend.  His first time was with Michael and Eli a few months ago.  Max got a ton of new books for Christmas but he mostly has his nose in his Nintendo lately.  I’m letting him have it until the break is over then we will try to get back into a more healthy screen time routine.

Penelope, my beautiful Penelope, she is like a little teenager all of the sudden.  Not like moody or anything but all the sudden she wants to dress more mature, not little girly, no big bows or bright colors.  She is super into makeup and fashion.  She got a ton of art stuff for Christmas and has been painting quite a lot.  We got her a big stand up easel and she wants to take it to a park somewhere and paint a landscape like they do in the movies.  So yeah we are definitely going to make that happen as soon as it warms up a little bit.  She is doing fantastic in school, she just won as the best mathematician in her class then got 4th in the grade!  She is reading extremely well for her age too.  She has made friends with two girls who live down the street and they play often which is awesome.  I’m happy that she has that like I did when I was little.  She had Macy come over and stay the night on New Years Eve as well and they stayed up until 3 in the morning!  So they ended up sleeping like all day the next day haha but I’m sure they had fun, I wouldn’t know I was asleep at 11.

Lily turned 6 since I last wrote on here!!!  My baby is 6, gah I can’t even deal.  Her birthday party was great!  I was hoped a few more people would have come but it all turned out perfect and no one got covid out of it, haha.  Lily had a friend from her class that got to come and that totally made Lily’s day!  I took her to his yearly wellness appointment too and She is in the 40th percentile and weighs almost 50 lbs and I can’t remember how tall she is but I think it is 3′11″.  I’ll have to check that and update it later*** What else is going on with Lily, well she started sucking her thumb again, I don’t even know, she had stopped, like totally stopped and now it is back like she never stopped if not worse.  I’m trying to give her a couple weeks to let everything calm back down and then we will try with the bandaid again and try to get her to stop.  She lost her first tooth!  Bottom left, and the one next to it is almost out and both of the new teeth have already popped through.  We were really hoping to have her stopped sucking her thumb before her front teeth came in, which is pretty soon now.  Hopefully we will get back there soon!  What else is Lily up to, she is thriving in school, her teacher tells me that she is really good at following directions and she is nice to everyone like they are her best friend.  She is getting perfect grades on everything and seems to be exactly where she needs to be.  She is getting good at her sight words but hasn’t found the confidence yet to totally say she is reading yet.  I have a feeling by the end of this school year she will totally be there though.  Lily has been wanting to have a friend come over and stay the night so bad, we have tried with Ivy and Olly a friend from school but their moms think they are too young, which I totally understand but still, she sees Max and Penny doing it and feels left out.  Don’t grow up too fast baby girl :)

Well it is a new year and I set myself a hefty amount of goals for the new year.  My first goal was to write on this more, like once every 2 weeks.  

I am going to try to have at least one date night a month with Robby

We are going to Disney

We are going to start, and dare I say finish the kitchen in 2021

I’m going to see 100 on the scale...

I’m going to try new recipes and healthier recipes

One day a week will be tech free, this includes the kids (Max is thrilled)

Also I want to get better at crafting and sewing, I’m going to try to make a new thing once a week, stop pinning on pinterest and start creating

Read 2 books every month

It seems like a pretty overwhleming goal list but everything is totally doable and I think hopefully It will make for a great year!

Cheers!

[defenselesswriter]

hiya dude, i just read baker!derek fanfic part 2, PLEASE WRITE MORE HOLY MOTHER OF FUCKING GOD ITS AMAZING

hey look! i finally wrote more! sorry it took so long to answer this, but i wanted to answer with a part 3. also for anyone who is new here, here is part 1 and part 2

Precisely an hour later after a shower is when Derek starts freaking out about what he did. He asked Stiles out. On a date. He actually did that.

Stiles said yes.

Derek is in so much trouble. He finally gets dressed and heads out of the house because he needs Laura, and he needs her now. Once he is in the car, he calls her and asks her to meet him at the bakery as soon as possible. Knowing her and hearing his tone, she will drop everything to come to him, which is exactly what she does. She’s at the bakery before he is.

“What’s going on?” she asks worriedly as soon as he sits down at a table in the back corner. “Are you okay?”

“I think so,” Derek answers, drumming his fingers on the table. “I asked a guy out.”

“You what?” she asks, her eyebrows lifting in surprise.

“Asked someone out,” he repeats.

After a moment of nothing but his fingers drumming the table, she reaches over and puts a hand over his to silence his fingers. “You asked someone out,” she says slowly. “Okay, that’s great. Good for you! Why are you freaking out?”

“It’s the sheriff’s son,” he whispers.

She freezes with her eyebrows slightly raised. The way she looks makes Derek’s anxiety skyrocket because she looks like she’s freaking out about him asking out Stiles, and if she’s freaking out then there must be a reason to.

“Isn’t he like twelve?” she finally asks.

Derek rolls his eyes. “He’s like twenty-two. He just graduated college.”

She relaxes with a sigh and nods. “Okay, that’s much better. Four years isn’t a big difference. What did the sheriff say about this?”

“I didn’t ask him,” he hisses, leaning closer to her so their conversation has less of a chance of being overheard. “I didn’t ask his permission. I figured Stiles is old enough to not need his father’s permission to date.”

Laura shrugs, pulling her hand away to push her hair over her shoulder. “Fair enough. Again, why are you freaking out?”

Derek is at a loss. He can’t name what’s bugging him. It isn’t because Stiles is younger than him or that he’s the sheriff’s son. “I haven’t dated in like four years,” Derek finally settles on.

Laura frowns at that. “So? Is it because of Kate? You know not everyone is going to be a manipulating bitch like her.”

He shakes his head. “No, it’s not because of her. Or maybe it is. I’m scared I can’t get close to anyone anymore.”

“You’re ready,” Laura tells him reassuringly. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have asked him out.”

“It just came out,” he argues. “I barely even thought about it.”

She rolls her eyes and leans back in her chair like she’s perfectly at ease while Derek is still freaking out. “You thought about it. You think about everything.”

And well...he can’t argue against that. He does think about everything all the time. Surprisingly enough, that actually seems to settle him a little bit. He thought about it, and he asked Stiles out. It’s not as big a deal as he is making it seem.

“You’re right,” he finally says.

“I know,” she snorts. “I’m always right.”

He wants to roll his eyes, but he holds himself back, knowing that Laura will make some comment about how dramatic he is. “Thanks,” he tells her in a dry tone.

She smiles at him and reaches over to pat his hand softly. “I’m taking that as a legit thank you. You’re welcome. Love you, brother. Now be a dear and get me something with chocolate please.”

With a laugh he stands up and starts walking towards the display case of treats. “Love you too,” he throws back over his shoulder. He picks out a mint brownie for Laura for her to try and gets himself a peanut butter cookie. As he brings them to the table, Laura’s face lights up.

“What did you bring me?” she asks eagerly, sitting straight up and trying to see what’s in his hands.

“Just try it first,” he tells her as he sits down. He hands her over the brownie, and she is fast to take a big bite of it. Her eyes close once she closes her mouth to chew, and she leans her head back.

“So good,” she says over the food in her mouth. “So fucking good.”

He smiles, always happy to have his sister’s approval, but then her face turns hard as she glares at him.

“Why haven’t I tasted this before?” she asks.

“It’s new,” he answers guiltily. “I tried it out on new taste testers before I gave Boyd the recipe to use today..”

Somehow it is possible for her glare to harden even more than it already was. “You found new taste testers?”

“The sheriff and Stiles,” Derek mumbles.

She looks to the side and takes a deep breath in the way that she does when she is trying to calm down her anger. It’s something their mom taught them when they were younger. She would always tell them, “It’s okay to be angry, but it’s not okay to violently react because you’re angry.” So they practiced counting to ten in their heads and taking deep breaths when they’re angry.

“I am going to forgive you just this once,” she says magnanimously. “Only because you were trying to woo the sheriff’s son.”

“Thank you,” he laughs with a roll of his eyes. He does love his sister, but she can be dramatic at times, which she probably says the same about him.

When he gets home, he has so much time until Stiles gets there, and he isn’t sure what to do with himself. He is still a little nervous about the date, which leads him to the kitchen because now he wants chocolate now, and a simple chocolate chip cookies after dinner would be awesome he thinks. Maybe Stiles would appreciate the treat as well. It seems Stiles is always up for whatever food Derek makes, which is probably a good sign since Derek is constantly making or baking something.

He puts the eggs, sugar, and butter in the mixing bowl and turns on the mixer. While that mixes, he quickly measures out the dry ingredients before sifting them into the mixing bowl. It’s a calming process that he has been doing for as long as he can remember. His dad would let him help make cookies when he was younger. Of course back then they had a hand mixer rather than the standing one Derek has now, but whenever he makes cookies, he thinks about his dad. His dad makes the best cookies. Derek could never top them even after years of trying when he was a teenager.

The mixing cuts some of the time off of Derek’s waiting, and he puts the dough in the fridge to chill so that he and Stiles can have fresh out of the oven cookies after dinner because fresh out of the oven is the best way to have a cookie.

After watching TV for a while, Derek gets up and orders pizza and wings for dinner as the oven preheats. He puts the cookies onto a baking sheet and puts them into the oven once it’s heated. Then he gets ready for the date.

He still can’t believe he has a date. What if it goes wrong? What if it goes badly? What if Stiles figures out that Derek is really boring and doesn’t want to try for a second date?

It turns out all his worries are silly when Stiles knocks on the door - the front door, even - and is holding a bouquet of flowers in his hands with a wide, blinding smile on his face. He even looks really good with his hair styled messily and wearing a black button down shirt with slim fitting tan pants.

“You look amazing,” Derek comments before he even thinks to say hi.

He didn’t know it was possible, but Stiles’ smile got wider. “Thanks!” he says, glancing down at his outfit and then back up at Derek. “You also look amazing, but that’s a given. You always look amazing.”

Derek can’t help but blush at that as he lets Stiles into his house. He leads them to the kitchen where the table is and sits down, gesturing for Stiles to do the same.

Before he sits down, he hands Derek the flowers. “These are for you.”

“Thank you,” Derek says, surprised because he isn’t sure he has ever received flowers from someone before. He immediately gets back up to find a container to put them in with some water. On the top of his fridge, he finds a dusty flower vase.

“So how has your day been?” Stiles asks from behind Derek.

“Pretty good,” Derek answers easily as he washes off the vase. “I got to see my sister so that was nice. What did you do today?”

He can hear Stiles take a deep breath so he looks back at him, and Stiles is stretching his back by leaning back. Once he’s righted he starts talking. “Had a freakout so I went to my best friend’s house.”

“Scott?”

Stiles’ eyes light up. “Yeah, Scott. He was very calming, full of sage advice as always.”

Derek laughs and then it connects in his head what Stiles said. “Why did you have a freakout? Are you okay?”

There’s a soft look on Stiles’ face before he answers. “Yeah, this really hot guy asked me out this morning, and well, I kind of freaked out because well, hot guy asked me out.”

Derek nods. “I understand. I asked a hot guy out today and freaked out on my sister about it.”

Stiles laughs. “Really?” he asks. “I’m a hot guy?”

“Oh, yeah,” Derek tells him seriously. “Insanely.”

Stiles shakes his head, but has a giant smile on his face that distracts Derek from what he was doing. Wait, what was he doing again? Oh, right. Putting the flowers in the vase. He puts some water in the vase and then puts the flowers in.

“Thanks again for the flowers,” Derek says softly as he stares at them with a smile. “I don’t think I’ve ever been given flowers. It’s a good feeling.”

“I wanted you to feel special,” Stiles tells him, “because you are.”

Derek looks up at him with wonder in his eyes. Where did this man come from? Where has he been for so long? How long was he right next to Derek without him even knowing?

“What?” Stiles asks since Derek is just staring at him.

“You’re incredible,” Derek answers. “That’s it. You’re incredible.”

Stiles takes a step closer and keeps taking steps until he’s in Derek’s space, and for the first time, Derek doesn’t mind someone in his space. “You’re incredible,” Stiles whispers, leans in, and then kisses him.

And it’s a really incredible kiss.

[pearcar93-blog]

Sister Pie’s Salted Maple Pie

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Hi Friends. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I’m still typing up my after-action report, but in the meantime I wanted to share with you a recipe for Sister Pie‘s salted maple pie, a perfect fall dessert, a salty-sweet, custardy treat that received rave reviews this past Thanksgiving.

Sister Pie, if you don’t know, is a bakery in Detroit founded by Lisa Ludwinski, a Michagan native, and her cookbook came out a few months ago. A few days before Thanksgiving, in search of one more pie to add to my dessert spread, I began paging through Sister Pie and landed on this recipe, the bakery’s take on a classic chess pie, an old-fashioned Southern dessert which typically contains cornmeal, butter, sugar and eggs. Sister Pie’s version also contains cornmeal but is sweetened with maple syrup and is finished, once the pie cools, with a nice sprinkling of sea salt. I find it irresistible. I think you might, too.

Though I’ve only made one recipe from the book, I have no doubt it’s going to get heavy use — the day after Thanksgiving, I curled up on the couch by the fire and read it nearly cover to cover, transfixed as much by its story as its recipes, the sweet and savory alike. The introduction to the book, which includes the bakery’s mission statement and an analysis of each sentence, made me cry multiple times. This was one trigger: To support their mission of accessibility, they have a program — the Sister Pie-It-Forward program — that allows customers to pre-purchase pie slices, the paper representation of which gets strung along a pie-it-forward clothesline, ready for anyone to unclip at anytime and to use for any reason. No one leaves without a slice. Pie it forward. Can you handle it?

I don’t want to spoil too many more details, but Lisa also encourages her employees to dance, drink water, sleep, eat cookies, hustle, and be kind. I mean, what? Who? Where? Places and people like this really exist? Fellow cookbook collectors, bakers, and pie lovers: I think you should add Sister Pie to your wish lists.

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Sister Pie’s Salted Maple Pie

Description

Reprinted with permission from Sister Pie, copyright © 2018. Photography by E. E. Berger. Published by Lorena Jones Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

From Sister Pie, a new cookbook from the eponymous bakery in Detroit, this salted maple pie, to me, is everything I want in a dessert: a sweet and salty custard in a flaky, buttery crust. Heaven. It was perfect for Thanksgiving, but I think it’s nice for fall in general.

A few notes: I don’t blind bake pie dough anymore — it never seems to make a huge difference to me and the effort always feels impossible at the moment. I’ve included my foolproof pie dough recipe below, which yields 2 rounds (and which, unlike Sister Pie’s recipe, is made in the food processor.) I don’t think it’s worth halving the recipe because it freezes beautifully. For Thanksgiving 2018, I made a double batch of the pie dough and made three other pies in addition to this one: Bourbon Pecan (No Corn Syrup), Ronnie Hollingsworth’s Most Excellent Squash Pie, and Apple-Frangipane Galette.

Also, I didn’t use the egg wash on the crust — because my dough has a little bit of sugar in it, it browns beautifully on its own.

Finally, I find my Emile Henry pie plate makes the best crust.

Ingredients

one round foolproof pie dough (recipe below; see notes above), rolled out to 11-12 inches

1⁄2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1⁄4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup maple syrup

3⁄4 cup packed light brown sugar

1⁄4 cup fine yellow cornmeal

Heaping 1⁄4 teaspoon kosher salt

3 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

3⁄4 cup heavy cream

1-1⁄4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

for finishing:

Flaky sea salt

1 cup heavy cream

sugar

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Fit the rolled out pie round into a 9-inch pie plate. See video guidance for trimming the excess dough and crimping it to make a nice fluted edge: in sum, trim excess dough, fold edge back and underneath, pinch to create the fluted edge.

Make the filling: In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter and maple syrup. Whisk in the brown sugar, cornmeal, and kosher salt.

Crack the eggs and yolk into another medium bowl. Add the cream and vanilla and whisk until combined.

Slowly pour the egg mixture into the maple mixture and whisk just until combined.

Place the pie plate on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Pour the filling into the pie shell.

Transfer the baking sheet with the pie on it to the oven and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the edges are puffed and the center jiggles only slightly when shaken. It will continue to set as it cools.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and transfer the pie to a wire rack to cool for 4 to 6 hours. Once fully cooled and at room temperature, sprinkle generously with flaky sea salt, slice, and serve.

To make the whipped cream, beat the heavy cream with a wire whip or in an electric mixer until soft peaks begin to form. Sprinkle in a small handful of sugar and a pinch of sea salt and beat until peaks begin to get firmer. Taste. Add more sugar and salt to taste. Beat until peaks begin to hold their shape or until they reach a texture you like — I like billowy, not-quite-stiff peaks. Store in fridge until ready to serve.

Store leftover pie, well wrapped in plastic wrap or under a pie dome, at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Print

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Foolproof Pie Dough

Description

Adapted from a favorite David Lebovitz recipe. I use it for this apple galette, this butternut squash pie, and the below Bourbon pecan pie, also a David Lebovitz recipe.

This recipe yields two rounds and it definitely can be halved, though I suggest making the full recipe because it’s so nice to have on hand.

Ingredients

2½ (320g) cups all-purpose flour

2 T. sugar

½ tsp. table (or kosher) salt

2 sticks (16 tablespoons | 8 oz | 227g ) unsalted butter

½ C. + 2 T. ice water

Instructions

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar and salt together. Cut the butter into small pieces, then add to the food processor. Pulse at 1-second intervals until butter is the size of peas—should be about 10 quick (1-second) pulses. Add the ice water and pulse again about 10 times until the mixture is crumbly but holds together when pinched. See video above for guidance. Lay two clean tea towels on a work surface. Dump half of the crumbly dough mixture into the center of each. Grab the four corners of the towel together and twist to create a beggar’s purse, pressing the dough into a disk. Unwrap the towel and use your hands to pack and pat the disk together. Wrap one (or both) of the rounds in plastic wrap, tuck in a ziplock bag, and store in the fridge for 3 days or freezer for 3 months.

If baking one immediately, lightly flour a work surface, roll out into a circle an inch or two larger than your pie plate, transfer to pie plate, trim over hanging dough, then crimp dough as desired (see video for guidance). Chill in fridge while you prepare the filling. Pre bake if desired … I’m too lazy anymore.

Posted By: alexandra · In: Baking, Christmas, Desserts, Fall, Holidays, pie, Thanksgiving

Source: https://alexandracooks.com/2018/11/26/sister-pies-salted-maple-pie/

[lenady]

Cream Wafers (vintage 1963 recipe)

The cycle begins anew this week, and we’re back to deserts. After last week’s salty oatmeal disaster I’m not feeling quite so experimental, so I’m technically cheating. I need a pick-me-up this week and my aunt used to make these cookies every year for Christmas, but I’ve never tried them myself, so I’m indulging in a bit of personal nostalgia this week.

I do not own the cookbook this came out of, but evidently it was in Betty Crocker’s Cookie book. All of the recipe’s I’m seeing online are the same, so I’m using the one from the official website. Time to pull up the mix for this week, we’re going back to 1963, the year The Birds was in theaters, Tab Cola made its debut, and President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas Texas. 

The ingredients are pretty simple for this recipe:

For the wafers: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup butter or margarine, softened 1/3 cup whipping (heavy) cream Granulated sugar  

 For the filling: 3/4 cup powdered sugar 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened 1 teaspoon vanilla, lemon extract or peppermint extract Food color, if desired

Okay, pausing for a second. No sugar in the wafers at all? I mean, the granulated sugar doesn’t go into the wafers as far as I remember. But whipping cream? Is that the reason for the name? Cause all the names these suckers go by involves cream: Cream Wafers, Swedish Creams… IDK

Well, whatever, to start with we mix the flour, butter, and cream with a spoon… a spoon? Are you kidding me? Also, looking back on it, I may have used more than 1/3 c. milk… oh well, it worked out okay.

And yeah, mixing that was about as annoying as you might think. My arm feels like lead and that was using really soft butter. And this is already reminding me a lot more of a pie crust than any sort of cookies I’ve ever made. After the mixing the dough goes in the refrigerator for an hour or so, until firm.

When it’s ready to go we roll it out (well, a third of it out, the rest of it stays in the fridge until we’re ready for it) on a lightly floured surface. 1/8 of an inch thick. With a small cookie cutter, recipe says 1 ½ inch, we cut out the cookies.

By the way, that was a difficult size to find, at least in my small town. Didn’t actually have any luck so I used a plastic shot glass I found in the cooking section instead. Worked out pretty good.

And yeah, found out pretty quick that this is a dough that definitely needs to be chilled. Makes it so much easier to handle, especially in the next step.

Okay, so we pour some sugar onto a plate or wax paper or whatever and coat the cut-out shapes, flipping to get both sides.

Place them on a cookie sheet (and maybe sprinkle a little bit more sugar over the tops to make them nice and crystally and pretty), pierce about four times with a fork, and bake for 7-9 minutes.

Evidently, unlike every single other cookie recipe I’ve ever used, space isn’t an issue with these suckers, cause they don’t spread but puff straight up. They’re also delicate as all heck. The directions say to just bake long enough to set up, instead of letting them brown (once again unlike any other cookies I’ve ever seen) and I lost probably half of one of those dough thirds because I either let them brown or left them sitting on the baking sheet for too long. They fell apart trying to get them moved from the baking sheet to the cooling rack, which wasn’t an issue when they weren’t browned… well, not as much of an issue. As I said, these suckers are delicate. Good for eating, not as much so for handling.

Getting them off the baking sheet after just a few minutes and then letting them cool for a good long time helped, at least a bit, when it came to the icing step.

Speaking of, the icing can be made while waiting. The filling isn’t that hard, essentially just butter cream, with the sugar, butter, flavoring of choice (I did vanilla for this recipe), and food coloring mixed together until it’s smooth. If the filling’s too thick then stirring a bit of water in helps.

Okay, once we’re ready to ice the wafers we take… ½ of a teaspoon? Yeah, no. I ended up making double the icing called for. After making this batch of cookies I managed to find my aunt’s copy of the recipe and it look’s like everything’s the same except for… yup, double the icing ingredients. Looks like she had the same reaction I did. ½ teaspoon just wasn’t enough, especially if you wanted to have the icing show at the edges.

Anyway, we take however much icing we want and spread it on one of the wafers...

then take another and, trying not to break either cookies, press it lightly into the frosting. 

The Verdict: Well, these things are definitely really cute, except for the wafers themselves looking kind of underdone. I’m used to golden brown cookies so pale ones just look kind of strange. The taste is okay, but most of that’s in the icing. If you don’t like icing then this isn’t the cookie for you. Where this cookie shines, and what kind of makes it worth it, is the texture. It’s almost more like a pastry crust than a cookie, and the way it puffs up is cool.

They’re really delicate, with a light texture, and that slight bit of sugar crystal on the outside.

3/4. Not for everyone, especially if you’re not big on icing, cause that’s where most of the flavor comes from, and making them can be a bit of a pain at times; but I can’t help but love these suckers. 

[brittanykotary]

OMG, LOVE! - December

I hope everyone had an incredible holiday season and December! It’s absolutely bananas to me that Christmas is already over and that this month and entire YEAR is ending in just a few days. I already shared this on my Instagram, but I’m going to include it here too, because I love this quote and truly mean it. 

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” Ol Charlie Dickens had the right idea, y’all. Feeling a little sad this joyous and generous time of year is coming to a close, but also so very grateful for the people who care for me from Atlantic to Pacific. Wishing everyone a Merry little Christmas and the absolute best in 2018 💜🎄🎊

Beauty and Fashion:

American Rag Edee Ankle Booties in Cognac at Macy’s - I saw these booties in-store last year and didn’t snatch them up in time before they were out of stock for the season. I finally picked up a pair and have been wearing them ALL the time. They are so comfortable and go with everything; love them and the fun exposed zipper detail. 

Chop Chop - I cut my hair!! Thank you to Chrissy for being my hair inspo and support system in going for a shorter cut! 💇🏻‍♀️ I absolutely love it and have been wanting something different for a looong time. The lob/shorter hair style has been popular for awhile now, but I was always hesitant to do it with my hair. I feel really comfortable with my stylist here (who I found through Groupon when I first moved to NC!) and trust that she understands my super thick and natural texture to give me something I can work with whether I want to style it or not. I’d totally recommend Samantha Pierce Hair Design if you’re local and in need of someone! She is located the Sola Salons right off Glenwood, past Crabtree Mall.

Lifestyle:

ban.do Medium Agenda in Rose Parade - It’s that time of year where I buy an agenda and try to be more organized, creative and cool. I did pretty good last year with my Sugar Paper one - lord knows I had quite a few activities and items to keep track of in 2017. I of course use the iCal app on my phone and computer, but there is just something about having a place to physically write something down and see everything laid out in one spot. If you’re in the market for a 2018 agenda, planner or calendar, I definitely recommend looking at HomeGoods/TJ Maxx/Marshalls! I picked up this ban.do one that retails for $28 at Home Goods for only $12.99! The stores I visited had a ton of options, colors and sizes ranging from $6.99-$19.99. The one I picked up comes with a pocket folder, stickers and very important “holiday” information as can be seen above.

Glisten Disposer Care Foaming Cleaner - Okay, I know this is kind of weird, but I totally got sucked into one of those Buzzfeed articles (specifically 27 Amazing Cleaning Products You’ll Never Regret Buying) and HAD to try these. If you have a garbage disposal you must go on Amazon right this very moment ($6.37 for a four pack) and get them or just watch the video of what the blue foam does. It is like an amazing science experiment and it might just be an illusion, but I swear my disposal is running faster and better. 

Food and Bevies:

Tortellini Soup with Italian Sausage & Spinach - I can’t be trusted when I go to the grocery store with nothing to do afterwards. I do things like buy a package of ground Italian sausage when it’s on super sale and put it in my freezer for a month. Enter a Pinterest search (follow me!) for something to do with it and I found this recipe from Yellow Bliss Road. It was incredible and I will definitely be purposefully buying Italian sausage to make it again! 

My recipe notes for anyone who is interested:

- I used a can of crushed tomatoes that also had extra garlic, basil and oregano in it. The recipe calls for its own amount of garlic and fresh basil (I used half the amount it called for of dried instead), I just had this kind of canned crushed tomato on hand and think it gave it even more flavor. 

- For the onion, I grated (instead of diced) one entire medium sized onion. I did this on a cutting board with a box grater and used all of the juices that came out the onion as well. This brought out a lot of onion flavor and almost melted into the soup.

- I used an entire bag of fresh baby spinach - it calls for two cups of packed, but I just used the whole bag.I made the entire base of this soup the night before I was going to have it. I didn’t put the fresh spinach or tortellini in until the day I was first going to have it. When it reheats a few days after the tortellini gets a little mushy, but still tastes really good.

- I used light olive oil instead of vegetable oil.

Utica Bakery (in North Carolina) - If you live in the greater Triangle region, I totally recommend taking a trip to the Utica Bakery in Apex. It’s right off of the toll portion of 540 and is completely worth the short drive! They have so many of the amazing Italian bakery items I grew up enjoying in Central New York like half-moons, cookies, breads and cannolis. Don’t get me wrong, I love the amazingness that are North Carolina donuts and biscuits, but these are different amazing and you just have to try them for yourself. Let me know if you go, because there is a very good chance I’ll come with you. 

Entertainment:

Brother’s Osborne Ain’t My Fault - This song has been my jam since seeing Brother’s Osborne perform it at the CMA Awards and the music video I just watched for the first time today is pretty great too. After seeing their performance, I immediately purchased the entire Pawn Shop album and have really been enjoying listening to it. Fun fact I saw brother T.J. at a boutique the first time I went to Nashville a few years ago (before they really blew up) and I thought he was Josh Turner because he has such a low voice haha. 

*Sidenote: If you want to watch another amazing country performance from the 2017 CMA Awards, check out Dierks Bentley, Rascal Flatts, Montgomery Gentry - My Town. I’ve watched it so many times and I always get chills and teary eyed. And if you want to watch yet another country/crossover performance that isn’t quite as emotional in a sad way, I recommend Justin Timberlake and Garth Brooks - Friends In Low Places because how stinking cute is Justin Timberlake fan girling over Garth Brooks?! Can you tell I spend a lot of time on YouTube?*

Snowed-Inn Christmas on Lifetime - I watched many a Christmas movie this season and I have to say Snowed-Inn Christmas on Lifetime was one of my favorites. It was what you’d expect from a Lifetime/Hallmark’esk holiday movie, but it was so cute and Bethany Joy Lenz (hello Haley from OTH) is in it! Thanks for the best recommendations as always, Rebecca! ❄️📺🎅🏼

What were you loving, gifting or receiving in December? Find any can’t miss post-holiday sales or deals? Share them with me on Twitter @brit_kotary using #OmgLove!

Clinks and winks and cheers and all of the happy and healthy wishes for an amazing 2018 <3