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ravensbug · 3 years

Note

what was kuvira and y/n’s wedding like?

Wedding

Fandom: Legend of Korra

Ship: Kuvira x reader

Request: Yes

Prompt: No

Word Count: 5,477

A/N: Anon you are fueling the fluff train. Keep the ideas coming. Did I combine the cat au with this one, absolutely. It makes it so much better. You’re in for a treat my friend.

Summary: You’re finally getting married. After everything that’s happened to Kuvira she still can’t believe it. But here she is planning the wedding, with Su no less. She wants it to be perfect. The day of the wedding is stressful for you both. It feels like anything could go wrong but it doesn’t. You two are finally together.

No one would have expected Kuvira to be the one planning the wedding. Everyone knew you had the mind for these things. After all, you were a designer. But when Kuvira told you she wanted to do this you let her. You also knew that Su wanted to help, so you stayed out of her way.

Kuvira didn’t keep you out of the loop though. She knew you were curious, but you always had to ask her to show you. She felt like you would always tell her to pick something else. But you didn’t. You liked what she chose, it fit both of you so well. You had to admit you did underestimate Kuvira’s ability to plan the wedding. Su must have helped a lot, but you wouldn’t sell Kuvira short.

You were in charge of the invites. You knew that you were going to invite most of your family, which Kuvira was fine with. You had a few friends you wanted to invite that made her nervous, but you made sure she had no need to worry. The only people Kuvira invited were the Beifongs. It did surprise you, especially since Jr. was on the list. You knew she had worked things out with him, but you still disliked him.

When you had finished all the invites there were around fifty. You felt kind of bad for how big your family was. You weren’t sure how they would handle Kuvira, or how she would handle them. You had hope that it would be fine, but you could never know.

You were so glad to be done for the day. Planning a wedding was way more stressful than your family made it out to be. You didn’t have all of them to help, so that was probably why. But you knew they would have overwhelmed you.

You heard the door open and leaned over to see it was Kuvira. Almost immediately after Jinx hopped off of the couch to greet her. You smile when you can hear her saying something to the cat before she picks Jinx up.

“I hope she’s not the only one who missed me,” Kuvira smiled. She walked over to you and leaned over to give you a kiss.

“Of course not. Any time without you is too long.” You got up from the desk so you could finally relax.

“I brought some things home for dinner,” Kuvira told you as you gathered all the invitations together.

“What did you get tonight?” you asked curiously. You left the invitations on the table, or else they would get lost.

“I got some crab to make crab puffs. I can make some soup to go with it too,” she told you.

“Where in spirit name did you get crab this time of year?” You came into the kitchen.

“Oh, you know, a certain village that has the best crab fishers in the world.” She was referring to your home town. She wasn’t wrong though.

“You spoil me,” you teased. “Do you even know how to make crab puffs? I’ve never seen you try.”

“Actually, I don’t. I was hoping you’d be willing to help me make dinner tonight?” she asked. It was so sincere and you couldn’t help but smile.

“Of course I would.” You give her a quick kiss before helping her get everything ready.

It had been a few years since you had made crab puffs. The last time was before you left home to join Kuvira to unite the Earth Kingdom. Your family never fully understood why you left and you never had the proper opportunity to tell them why. It’s not that you didn’t love them, but they were always so overwhelming to you. Even without siblings, you had all these cousins running around and dragging you everywhere.

You knew now with your own space you’ve grown into your own person. You’re more outgoing and there are no more days where you mentally and physically exhausted unless you’re sick. Kuvira would be lying if she said she didn’t notice how different you were from when you two first met. She wouldn’t change it for the world though.

You both moved in sync with each other, grabbing what you needed from either the cabinets or each other. You got the saucepan and poured some oil in it. You turn on the burner and place the pan down to let the oil heat up. You move to the counter and you gather the crab meat, cream cheese, and whatever spices you decide to add it. You made the decision to add some Cayenne Pepper powder, which is what your family liked to use instead of garlic. It sounds weird to anyone outside your family, but you all loved it. You wondered if it would be a surprise to Kuvira.

While you were making the crab mixture Kuvira was busy cutting up some vegetables and leftover meat for whatever soup she was making. You’d had so many over the five years you had been living together that you learned to expect something different every night.

“Which one are you making this time?” You didn’t need to turn to ask her.

“Just a simple Miso soup,” she answered. You knew that Miso soup was never simple in her eyes. With all the extravagant meals the chef cooked at the Beifong estate you completely understood why she liked it. It was simple, but also unique to each person who made it. It was never made the same way twice so she never got tired of it.

Once you finished mixing the crab meat you grabbed the wonton wrappers to place the crab meat in. You were glad that Kuvira had grabbed all the correct ingredients. You managed to make twelve of the crab puffs and put them in the oil to cook four at a time. When they were done you plated them and set the plate on the table. You looked over to Kuvira, who was already filling two bowls with soup.

You grabbed a bottle of sake and poured half a glass for both of you. Another thing you learned, Kuvira didn’t have a high alcohol tolerance despite the fact that Su would serve wine to those who could drink it for dinner. It surprised you when you learned she was a lightweight, but that just made things more fun.

She handed you your bowl of soup and a spoon so you can sit down and start eating. She joins you shortly after so you’re together. Most of the time you two eat in silence, you don’t need to talk now. There would be plenty of that after dinner.

“I hope you like them,” you smile when you see Kuvira reach for one of the crab puffs. You decide to leave out the information about the Cayenne pepper, for now. You waited to see her reaction, if she did have one, but she didn’t.

“You added Cayenne pepper didn’t you?” You were honestly shocked.

“How did you know?” you asked.

“I’ve learned my spices from the chef at the estate and I happened to bump into someone who told me it was a good spice to add,” Kuvira told you with a smirk.

“So you’ve met someone in my family then,” you confirmed.

“I guess I did. I suppose you won’t tell me who though.” She raised an eyebrow.

“Even if you did describe them I still probably wouldn’t know. I have way too many cousins to keep them all straight.” You got her to laugh a little.

“It’s true!” you pouted.

“I never said I didn’t believe you,” she laughed more.

You two finished your dinner shortly after. Both of you had finished the crab puffs and you each had more than one bowl of soup. Kuvira stored the remaining soup for another day, whenever you two weren’t together to eat. She noticed you had left a piece of crab out and knew exactly who it was for.

Jinx was laying down somewhere else in the apartment, but when she heard her food bowl get filled she came trotting into the kitchen. Kuvira placed the piece of crab on top of the food, knowing Jinx would dig it out anyway.

You two cleaned the rest of the kitchen up while Jinx ate. It was nice, even though you never liked cleaning up after a meal. Right now it keeps your mind off of all the wedding thoughts.

When you two finish you both retire to the bedroom, tired after all the day's events. Kuvira more so than you. She’s been walking all day while talking with Su. She beats you sitting and writing invites for the most exhausting task.

You pick up the book from your nightstand and open it to where you had left off. In your absentmindedness, you had begun twirling the metal bookmark in the air. A habit you had to keep yourself distracted from even thinking about what happened during the day. Also something Kuvira has learned over the years. You only realize you’re doing it when you see her grab it from the air and place it back in the book. She knows you weren’t really paying attention to the story anyway.

“What’s bothering you?” her voice is full of concern. She could make an endless list of things that she thought could be wrong and not voice a single one of them.

“My family I guess. Not in a bad way, but I’m worried about what they’ll think of you. They can get to be a lot pretty quickly,” you explained.

“I survived Opal and the twins. I’m sure your family isn’t nearly as bad as them,” Kuvira tried to make you feel better. It works a little, considering all the stories she’s told you of the three of them and the chaos they caused her.

“I just don’t want them to overwhelm you like they do with me,” you worded your frustration differently.

“I’ll be fine. Plus I can always find excuses to go back to you if they do become too much,” she reassured you.

“Y/N I love you. You know that right?” she asked in a more serious tone.

“Of course I do. We wouldn’t be getting married if you didn’t,” you joked.

“Well, then you should know that the way your family is won’t affect anything between us.” She placed her hand on your cheek to turn your head towards her.

“I know…” you sighed. Words were being frustrating at now of all times.

“It’s ok to be worried. You don’t think I am?” She asked.

“I have to deal with Su pestering me over every decision I make, not that it's abnormal for her to do,” Kuvira sighed.

“I can’t even imagine what she’s like right now,” you try not to laugh.

“Spirits, she is so detail orientated. Every little thing has to match. She keeps trying to change the flowers I chose but I won’t let her,” she complains.

“Oh, why’s that?” you ask. You had a feeling it was a more personal reason than just her own preference.

“She says they don’t match as well as some others will, but I chose your favorite. I don’t want to change that.” She looks away and you can see the blush on her face. You finally place the book back on your nightstand and roll back over to snuggle into Kuvira.

“I love you, Vira,” you smile. You feel her wrap her arms around you to keep you close. The bed dips a bit at the bottom, telling you that Jinx has hopped up on the bed. It was a nice ending to a stressful day even though there would be more stress to come.

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

It was the day of the wedding and you couldn’t be more nervous. Kuvira had gone to the Beifong estate, per Su’s request, to get ready. You were getting ready in your apartment, with the assistance of your mother and Bolin of all people. He refuses to not help because you’re his ‘best friend and that’s what friends do!’ Bolin was also good at keeping you calm.

“Bolin the shawl is fine!” you told him as he corrected it for the fourth time. Your mom was a little skeptical about Bolin when he came to help, but you assured her he was fine. He was fine, but right now he was being a little excessive.

“Now it is! Y/N you have to look your best today! I’ll accept nothing less,” he smiled.

“Thanks, Bolin,” you smiled. “You can go join the rest of the gang if you want to. There isn’t really anything else to do.”

“Well, then I’ll see you at the wedding. Don’t be late!” he joked as he left your apartment. That left you and your mom alone and for once it was nice. You hadn’t really spent time with individual members of your family, because everyone was always home. It was different, but you needed it still.

“How’s my little cherry blossom doing?” She stood in front of you. She was a few inches shorter than you, but refused to stop calling you that. It always made you blush, but you never asked her to stop. The nickname was a part of your unique connection with her compared to the rest of your family. She was the only one who could call you that.

“I’m great mom,” you smiled. There was underlying nervousness and excitement, but you did your best to keep that at bay.

“I know it’s late to ask you this, but does she make you happy?” she asked you with genuine concern. It had been a long time since she had last seen Kuvira. The last time was before you left to join her. Of course your mom was concerned. You knew she was worried about the person Kuvira had become during those three years.

“Mom, of course she does. It may not have always been perfect between the two of us, but we’ve come a long way since then.” She didn’t truly understand how, but she wasn’t going to try and change your mind. You were stubborn to a fault once you decided on something, much like your father.

You and your mother left your house with enough time to get to the wedding venue. You made sure to say goodbye to Jinx before you left just so she knew you loved her. Su, being Su, had chosen one of the open spaces of the Beifong estate. She asked you specifically about this to make sure it didn’t make you uncomfortable.

Your father was waiting for you both outside of the seating area. He was wearing a suit and you were surprised. He never wears fancy clothes unless your mother forces him to.

“Did mom make you wear the suit?” you asked as your father hugged you.

“Only the jacket and bowtie,” he smiled.

“Are you ready?” Your father asked after your mother had left to go sit down.

“Are you ready dad?” you asked. He wasn’t a man of many emotions, but the ones he had were strong. You could see the tears he was trying to fight and gave him a smile.

“Yes, and I couldn’t be more proud.” he smiled.

You two walked down the aisle and the music started to play. Nothing fancy, probably Kuvira’s doing, but it was still nice. The people seated began to quiet down and turned towards you and your father. Kuvira was talking to Opal about something before she heard the music and looked over to you. The adoration on her face was unmatched, even by your father. You both had waited and suffered through too much for this to feel real.

When you finally joined her your heart was racing. Yes, you both had practiced this before, but it was for real this time. You didn’t want to mess up now. You couldn’t mess up now.

“Please join hands,” the minister asks you both. You hold your hands out and Kuvira takes them. You can feel her usual steadiness is gone, replaced with the nervousness that you both feel.

"I ask you each now, to repeat the marriage vows." The minister looks at you both.

“I, Kuvira take you, Y/N for my wedded wife, To love and cherish, For better or worse, for richer or poorer, In sickness and in health. From this day forward.” Kuvira did her best to keep her emotions in check. You saw through the usual stoic expression she gave.

“I, Y/N take you, Kuvira for my wedded wife, To love and cherish, For better or worse, for richer or poorer, In sickness and in health. From this day forward.” You of course didn’t even try to hold back the smile that appeared on your face.

The minister grabs the rings from where they were placed after Naga brought them in. Kuvira thought it was completely unnecessary to have the Polar bear-dog bring the rings, but both you and Korra asked her every day for almost a week.

“May the Spirits bless these rings which you give to each other as your sign of Love, Devotion, and everlasting peace.” The minister held the rings up before handing both of you each other's rings.

“As you place this ring on your partner's finger I ask that you repeat these words.”

“This ring is my sacred gift to you, A symbol of my Love, A sign that from this day forward and always, My Love will surround you, With this ring, I thee wed,” he spoke the words. You both repeated him as you put the rings on each other’s fingers.

“For as much as Kuvira and Y/N have consented together in matrimony and have witnessed the same before the spirits and those present, and have pledged their faithfulness, each to the other, and have declared their love by giving and receiving rings and by joining hands, I now, by the authority committed unto me as a minister and a priest, declare that Kuvira and Y/N are wifes according to the ordinance of the spirits. Those whom the spirits have joined together, let no one put asunder.” The minister went through his required lines. You were beginning to become impatient, just wanting this to be official.

“May the peace and the unconditional love of the spirits surround you and remain with you,” he smiled.

“You may seal your vows with a kiss.”

You practically jumped on Kuvira. There were things about this kiss that felt the same, the feeling of her smiling as you kissed, the warmth it gave you. But there was the one big difference: this meant you two were married now. You never want to forget this moment.

Did you two kiss until you ran out of breath? Definitely. Neither of you minded and you didn’t pay attention to the raised eyebrows and smirks of others.

“Allow me to present Mrs. and Mrs. Beifong.” You both turned to everyone. You see your family all smiling at you, for once not being overwhelming. You see Su, Baatar, and the other Beifong kids smiling. Jr. looks a little upset, but that was a fact you knew.

You notice an older couple, around Su and Baatar’s age, sitting farther in the back. You don’t recognize their faces and you wonder who they are. You think back on the invitations and how you weren’t the one to send them out. You only wrote them, well almost all of them. An idea in the back of your mind made it’s home there, waiting for a better opportunity for you to ask Kuvira who exactly those two were.

The reception was much more familiar to your home life than the wedding was. The kids were chaotic as usual and there were the teens assigned to hunt them down. You missed this a little more than you cared to admit.

Catching up with family members was nice, most of them kept the conversations short so you wouldn’t get bored. You’d probably talked to half the people there by the time you decided to take a seat for a while. Even after years of not dealing with them, your family was still draining.

“Taking a break?” Kuvira had walked over to you after talking with your father about something. They got along surprisingly well and you were glad.

“Yeah. Already overwhelmed again,” you sighed.

“If you weren’t so keen on catching up with everyone as fast as possible, maybe you wouldn’t be so tired.” Kuvira raised an eyebrow. She sipped some of the wine in the glass she held when she saw you give her a mildly offended look.

“Yes, I know you’re far more social than I am,” she rolled her eyes. “But you really don’t have to do it so fast.”

“Habits I guess,” you shrugged. She grabbed your hand that was resting on the table and gently squeezed. It was the silent ‘I love you’ that she’s been giving you in the past few years. You give her a smile in return and she walks off to go talk with someone else. You watch as she walks over to the twins, who both give her a playful punch on the arm. The only two who could ever keep up with her in your opinion.

After she walked off you caught a glance of the older couple once again. They were sitting down and talking to each other. They looked happy, not as happy as everyone else, but simply content with where they were. You finished the glass of wine you had in your hand to help with whatever nerves you had. You were going to talk to them, learn who they were.

You were stopped by only a few family members while walking over to the couple. You kept those conversations short as well, but you took Kuvira’s advice and slowed yourself down. To your surprise, it actually helped you. You would have to thank her later for that.

You finally made it to the couple and they took notice of you right away. You felt a little awkward so you introduced yourself.

“I’m Y/N. I don’t believe we’ve met before.” You held out your hand. The man took it and gave you a firm handshake. His wife, you assumed, just nodded at you.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Ruong and this is my wife Keeva.” Ruong introduced himself and his wife.

“It seems like you two go well together,” Keeva pointed out. You could see she wasn’t looking at you, but over your shoulder. You guessed she was looking at Kuvira based on her statement.

“There have been a few ups and downs, but she’s amazing. A lot has happened since we got together. I don’t know how we would have handled it if we weren’t together,” you smiled. Keeva clearly liked you more than Ruong did. You could tell there was some disdain in his look.

“I don’t mean to be invasive with this question, but because I don’t recognize you, you have to be here for Kuvira don’t you?” you asked. Keeva gave you a small nod.

“We are…” Keeva answered. You could tell she wanted to say more. You weren’t sure why she didn’t. You struck a more casual conversation with them to ease whatever tension that had created. You knew they were Kuvira’s parents, they didn’t need to say it.

Kuvira had seen you leave your chair after she was done talking and messing around, a little, with the twins. She looked around for you amongst your family and when she did see you, in the obvious white dress, the feeling of dread crept up on her. She knew where you had gone and wasn’t ready for you to have done that yet.

She grabbed another glass of wine and downed it quickly, numbing her nerves so she could get the inevitable over and done with. She weaved through the crowds to where she knew her parents were sitting. When she saw you standing there with them, laughing and having a good time she was shocked.

She came up next to you and only startled you a bit. You smiled at her and she gave a faint smile back.

“Vira, I was just having a nice conversation with your parents,” you told her. She froze still because you knew. She didn’t blame you and your curiosity, but she wanted this whole interaction to be on her own terms.

“Could I talk to you for a minute?” she asked you. You understood now that talking to them on your own wasn’t what Kuvira wanted to happen. You heard the strain and hesitation in her voice.

“Of course.” You stood up and followed her. About halfway through her taking you somewhere to talk you took her hand. A reassuring gesture that you knew she needed right now. When you two got somewhere more quiet she stopped and turned to you. The look of uncertainty on her face was something you haven’t seen since she surrendered at Republic City.

“Hey, what’s wrong.” You placed your hand on her cheek.

“You mean other than the obvious?” She snapped at you.

“Vira, I didn’t know how you wanted me to meet them and I didn’t even know they were coming. I got a little curious.” It was sort of an apology and an explanation at the same time.

“I know, I just wanted to be there. My father can be a bit...harsh at times,” she sighed.

“Yeah, I think I got that. He doesn’t like jokes very much. Your mom seems to find me very funny,” you give her a small smile. She can’t help but laugh at that fact. Of course that’s how you interact with them.

“I wanted to be there with you when you met them.” You figured that when she dragged you off.

“I’m sorry.” You gave her a kiss, trying to make up for the panic you had caused her.

“No, it’s ok. I’m glad you met them. I honestly couldn’t have stopped you from doing that anyway,” she smiles.

“Yeah, you’re right about that,” you smirk.

“We should go back, I’m sure the music will start playing soon if my mother has anything to say about it.” You rolled your eyes at the thought and heard Kuvira let out a chuckle. You two had never really danced together that often. You were too embarrassed by your dancing skills, or lack thereof. You had some practice, but you felt like a clutz compared to Kuvira. She would always compliment you, which just made you blush and then mess up.

When you two got back there was already music playing. There were a few people dancing, either couples or adults and kids. You looked over to Kuvira who smiled. She knew that this wasn’t the time to dance yet.

You had a plan for the dancing. You wanted at least a song or two to dance with her, one with your father of course, and then your song. Kuvira had no idea about your song, or that you were going to be singing in general. It was your big surprise for her.

She stayed close to you throughout the first song. You knew she was going to ask you to dance for the next song, you could see it on her face. That tiny smirk whenever she would look over at you.

The song ended and changed to a slower one. A favorite of yours and your father. He walked over to you and took your hand. You were thankful that your father wasn’t a skillful dancer like Kuvira, because he would have embarrassed you with it.

The dance was slower than the last. There was a feeling of peace surrounding you, that whatever stress accumulated throughout the day practically vanished altogether.

You looked over to Kuvira and saw her father walking over to her. You couldn’t help the smirk on your face and she was slightly confused by it. You indirectly watched their interaction, how her father didn’t look confident at all. Reminded you a lot of her trying to dance with you for the first time.

Your father looked at you with a raised eyebrow since he saw that Kuvira had actually accepted her father’s request to dance. You only smiled and shrugged. You didn’t have time to explain it to him and you knew he would ask them questions if you couldn’t answer them.

When you caught a glimpse of them together it was the first time you had seen Kuvira smile with her father. Granted she might have before, but you don’t really know. You would say this night couldn’t get any better, but there was one thing that could and you just had to wait a bit.

The song came to an end and you gave your father a tight hug and you both went to sit down for a bit. You watched Kuvira and her father have a short conversation before she came to sit next to you. You couldn’t tell what emotion she was feeling because there was too much to read on her face.

“Hey, you ok?” You grabbed her hand gently. You must have brought her out of her own thoughts because you felt her hand tense in response.

“What? Oh, yes I’m fine.” she still seemed out of it.

“You sure?” You didn’t want to press for details, but you weren’t going to just leave this be.

“For once I am.” You saw the content smile, that she’s rarely shown to anyone, appear on her face. You guessed her father had said something and you thanked the spirits that it wasn’t something bad.

“Good, there’s one more thing happening tonight that I think you’ll like,” you gave her a sly grin.

“Oh, and what’s that?” she raised an eyebrow.

“You can wait to find out.” You kissed her on the cheek before getting up. You heard her try and say something, but she was fumbling with her words.

You walked over to the band, already feeling everyone’s eyes on you. You had only told Su about what you wanted to do, knowing Kuvira wasn’t good with picking music. You looked over to Su and the smile she gave you made you more confident about what you were going to do.

The band knew what you wanted to do. They had music for this. The singer simply handed you the microphone and gave you a thumbs up. The band started with a soft, but upbeat sound. Setting you up for when you would come in. You took a deep break and turned around to start singing.

Some day, when I'm awfully low

When the world is cold

I will feel a glow just thinking of you

And the way you look tonight

Everyone had stopped talking when you started singing. It made your heart beat even faster knowing that, but you focused on Kuvira. This was your song for her. You wanted to know how she felt about it.

Yes, you're lovely, with your smile so warm

And your cheeks so soft

There is nothing for me but to love you

And the way you look tonight

You motioned for people to start dancing. It would help with your nerves and it was meant to be danced to as well.

With each word your tenderness grows

Tearin' my fear apart

And that laugh, wrinkles your nose

Touches my foolish heart

Your parents were the first to start dancing. Thankfully that encouraged others to join in. You even saw Kuvira’s parents join in. You were mildly surprised by that.

Lovely, never, never change

Keep that breathless charm

Won't you please arrange it?

'Cause I love you

Just the way you look tonight

You watched Kuvira get up and walk over to you. You were smiling while singing and she gave you that content smile that she had before. She held out her hand and you gladly took it. You knew you weren’t great at dancing, but right now you were focusing on singing. Kuvira didn’t mind either of those things.

And that laugh that wrinkles your nose

It touches my foolish heart

Lovely, don't you ever change

Keep that breathless charm

Won't you please arrange it?

'Cause I love you

Just the way you look tonight

You took the microphone away from your face and leaned into Kuvira, singing the last part just for her.

Mm, mm, mm, mm,

Just the way you look tonight

Everyone was clapping for you because of how beautiful the song was. You were too busy kissing Kuvira to be embarrassed about that. Now you could really say tonight couldn’t get any better.

#kuvira #kuvira/reader #kuvira x reader #kuvira legend of korra #wedding #singing #fluff

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pull-the-hoodie-strings · 3 years

Text

Family Dinner

My giftee for this years MSA Holiday Spirits ended up being @phantoms-lair! This was a lotta fun to write and I hope ya like it :D

My constant curse is making things too long but I think I managed this time.

Summary- After reuniting with Lewis with his family, the Peppers invited (read: insisted) that they all come over for a dinner like they used to.

"I just think it's too... formal."

Vivi was trying to be patient, she really was, but if Lewis changed his mind about what to wear one more time she was gonna lose it. It wasn't like the guy actually had to change clothes either. A flash of ghostly flames and he could go with whatever look he wanted. Normally Vivi would be all over that but the novelty had worn off a bit after the first six times.

"Lewis, babe," Vivi hopped up before he could switch again, grabbing onto his shoulders, "I promise you look great."

Despite the compliment Lewis just seemed to slump more. "Yeah?"

The sunny smile Vivi had managed dropped a bit then. Lewis had been a nervous mess all morning, not able to even sit still. They both knew it wasn't really about the outfit.

Vivi gave his shoulders a squeeze. "It's gonna be fine, Lew. They love you."

That got a frustrated noise out of him. "I know that but last time-" he trailed off, crossing his arms.

Last time was definitely... something. Obviously a big item on their to do list after Lewis rejoined the group was reconnecting with his family. The poor guy was terrified back then, barely able to keep hold of his human guise. Arthur and Vivi had gone in first, trying to prepare the Peppers a bit at least.

And then Lewis walked in.

The whole room had fallen fell deadly silent. Mrs Pepper had dropped the plate she'd been holding. Mr Pepper dropped to the ground himself. There was a lot of yelling and a lot of tears afterwards, the Peppers practically yanking their son into a bear hug.

The only wrinkle was Lewis's little sisters. Cayenne and Belle were a little wary of him now. Little Paprika spent most of the night hiding behind her older sisters, hardly looking at her brother. Lewis's death was the first big loss they'd experienced. Though he was thrilled to be able to see his family again, Vivi could see the disappointment in his eyes.

Now the Pepper's had invited (more like insisted) they all come to dinner tonight.

Lewis let out a sigh. "I don't wanna scare them, Vi."

"And you won't. They're probably confused, Lewis, you just gotta show 'em you're still their big brother." Vivi paused, thinking for a moment. "Plus once Cayenne figures out you can shoot fire out of your hands and everything..."

A snort. "That'd end with the restaurant burning down."

The mood a bit lighter now, Lewis settled on his usual human appearance, ascot and all. He was still fussing with the cuffs of his shirt as Arthur came downstairs.

"You guys ready?" Arthur's keys were jingling in his pocket, nervous smile on his face. Shooting a glance back to Lewis, Vivi nodded.

"As we'll ever be," she said, forcing a bit of the usual excitement into her tone for her boys. It only worked a little bit. The all piled into Arthur's van and then they were off. The drive to Pepper Paradiso was a quiet one. Arthur was glancing from the road towards the two of them occasionally while Lewis stared out of the window, fidgeting.

Vivi frowned, watching Lewis in the rearview mirror. Slowly, she asked, "Do you guys remember our prom night?"

Lewis frowned, meeting her eyes through the mirror. "Yeah? What part of it?"

"I think we had dinner at your parents restaurant, right?" Despite getting the important memories back, little bits and details were still hard to grasp sometimes.

"Yeah we did," Lewis leaned back into his seat. "We all just went together since we didn't have any dates."

Arthur snorted from the driver's seat. "That probably should've been a sign, considering."

"Yes, well," Lewis shrugged, "mom was ready to give both of you the shovel talk either way."

"What?" Arthur had paled a bit, glancing towards the back seat. "Dude that would be terrifying, don't tell me that right before we get there!"

"I'd say I'd protect you Arty," Vivi said as she patted his shoulder, "but Mrs. Pepper is a force to be reckoned with."

"She's not that bad," Lewis argued as they both gave an exaggerated shudder.

The banter petered off as they pulled in front of the restaurant. It was later in the day, the Peppers having closed earlier than usual so they could host the little dinner. Lights still shone out past the closed sign in the window. The restaurant had always been welcoming, almost a second home for them when they were younger. Now though? It wasn't foreboding exactly but the concept of trying to get that homey feeling again...

Arthur put the van in park, leaving it run as he turned in his seat. "Hey, we don't have to do this if you're not ready, big guy."

But the ghost was already shaking his head. "No. No I want to go. Besides, it's not like I can put this off forever."

Then Lewis was clambouring out of the van, Vivi and Arthur sharing a glance before following. The door to Pepper Paradiso swung open easily. Immediately the smells of food cooking hit them in the face carried on the warm air inside. The tables for regular customers were all bare, cleaned and ready for tomorrow. Vivi could hear distant voices from the kitchen.

Lewis seemed to freeze for a moment as the door shut behind them. Mr. Pepper heard them apparently, swinging open the door to the back and waving them on in. The kitchen was still on the smaller side just enough to serve the Pepper’s needs. Vivi remembered vaguely of Mr. Pepper waxing poetic about his dream renovation of the room. Set towards the back, past the ovens and countertops, was a larger table. A bit beat up over the years, they used it for dinners both with family, friends, and co-workers after long nights.

Mrs. Pepper was stood at the stove, sauteing vegetables. She gave them a small smile before turning and yelling up the stairs.

"Girls! Dinner is almost on, come down and set the table."

They were all roped into helping set up one way or another. Grabbing some more chairs, getting drinks, or in Lewis' case: hesitantly offering to help set the table.

By now the girls had arrived, glancing between Lewis and their parents. Lewis had a few plates in hand, hovering on the opposite end of the table. Vivi could see how tight he was clutching them halfway across the room. They'd already broken enough plates last time.

Finally, just as Lewis went to say something, Belle interrupted.

"It's your turn," she said softly.

Lewis blinked. "Huh?"

She pointed to the still empty table. "To set the table. It's your turn."

Cayenne hesitated a moment before nodding wisely. Lewis, meanwhile, looked like he was trying to do some math.

"I always set the table," he argued, baffled, "you guys just try and hide upstairs and Paprika is- was too short."

"Well you haven't done it in forever," Cayenne crossed her arms. "So you should do it the next like- twenty times. Plus the dishes."

For a moment all Lewis could do was stare. Then, as Vivi watched, he let out a small, disbelieving laugh. It built into one of those warm, deep laughs she loved to hear from him. The smile on his face was just as welcome.

"Right," he said with a nod. Even though his voice was shaky, the smile didn't dim. "Sure, twenty times at least."

"At least!" Cayenne made sure to emphasize that part.

Vivi smiled as she finished grabbing drinks, making her own way to the table. It wasn't perfect, not by a long shot, but they fell back into the familiar sort of sibling banter they used to have. She imagined Lewis would have to sit down with them sometime and explain a bit more but right now? Even little Paprika was smiling.

Cayenne pulled urgently on her sleeve and Vivi leaned down so the girl could whisper in her ear.

"Does his hair always do that now?" Cayenne excitedly pointed towards Lewis, whose pompadour was decidedly more wispy and fire like than before. He was half arguing and half laughing with Belle, who was currently trying to pawn off more chores onto him.

Vivi smirked, whispering back. "Only if you make him laugh."

"Cool," Cayenne said slowly.

Yeah, she thinks they're gonna be alright.

#msaholidayspirits2020 #Ot3 #a little bit anyway!#phantoms-lair #Lewis pepper #vivi yukino #arthur kingsmen #fluff #happy holidays!

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a3theatrejunkie · 4 years

Note

Could i have headcanons of homare attempting (but failing) to make izumi a birthday curry ?thank you for your time~

- Bold of you to assume that Masumi doesn't have the kitchen in lock down so no one else can make Izumi any special treats for her birthday. Fortunately for Homare, Izumi’s birthday was on a school day this year and Masumi had to go to school.

-“OHOHOHO! ONCE AGAIN YOU’VE BEEN CUCKOLD BY THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM!” Homare Hooted as Masumi was dragged out the door. “HAVE A SPLENDID DAY OF LEARNING CHILDREN!”

-With Masumi gone and no one else in the kitchen Homare can now execute his master plan to create the best, most flavorful curry Izumi’s ever tasted.

First things first a recipe. Indian? No. We ate the last week. Japanese? No, too basic. Fish roe curry?!?!? Yuck. Thai Red Curry? Sounds Interesting. “Yes let’s do this one!”

-Now, Cook the rice. Homare’s made rice before, “We don’t have any Jasmine Rice, hmmmmm white rice will do just fine.” and so Homare dumped it into a large vat of water and let it cook on high.

-Next! Chop up vegetables. “AHA! It is now time to ‘slice and dice’! ” Homare grabbed two knives “Okay, how did Omi do it? Like this?” *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *clink.* A shard of metal fell onto the counter top and one of the knives was now missing a piece of it. “Oopsies..... Let’s... just...” Homare placed the broken knife back into the knife block.

- “ Mr.Onion! You secret secreter of human tears, today is the day is the day you’re vanquished, for I, HOMARE ARISUGAWA, Have goggles!” “As Itaru would say, QUEST COMPLETE!” Homare continued his ‘quests’ with all the other vegetable “My sweet dear carrots, the orange lights of my life. Kale. Garlic, you represent strength to all but today you fall. Ginger! the he- Whats burning?”

The rice that you haven’t checked on in thirty minutes, that’s what’s burning.

-Homare turned to see the pot of rice had begun to boiled over, coating it in a weird sticky white residue. “OH NOOO! OH NO! WHATDOIDOO??” Homare screamed in turn waking Hisoka who was sleeping on the couch.

-“What’s with the noise?” Hisoka asked. “MY RICE IS BURNING!!??! WHAT DO I DO? WHAT WAS IT THEY TAUGHT IN SCHOOL. POP. LOCK. AND DROP?” “Well. Turn off the heat.” “AHA! THE HEAT!” Homare rushed over to the stove and turned off the burner. The rice slowly began to settle down back into the pot. “Ah, Hisoka, you truly are the brainy brawn of our relationship. And you know I think I can still use this rice. The waters all gone.” Hisoka walked over and peered into the pot. “It looks...dry?” “It’ll add a rustic texture.” “Is this for dinner?” “No.It’s for Izumi’s birthday.” “Hm.” Hisoka exited the kitchen.

- Back to cooking, pour olive oil into a heated pan and add vegetables, stirring continuously. Easy enough. “ I won’t be bested by you again, no surprises full attention.” He added the veggies to the pan, the pan made a harsh sizzling sound. “Ooooooh! Now we’re talking! What’s next?”

-Season the vegetables and add red curry paste. ‘Okay, the basics a little salt, a pinch of pepper.’ Homare thought ‘And now the curry pa- Hm? Wheres the cu-?’ “THAT LOVESTRUCK MOTLEY FIEND.” Homare yelled. At some point Masumi had taken ALL of the curry from the cabinets.

-”Well played little music boy, But I shall just go to the grocery store.” “But first.” Homare turned the burner off and covered the pan with the lid.

Time skip to his return.

“Okay they didn’t have red curry paste but they did have yellow curry paste, and curry is curry so we’ll just use that and make it red.” Homare turned the burner back on and added a few scoops to the mix. Now to make it red. “Let’s see red... let’s use.. some red spices! a scoop of crimson saffron, a heap of ruby red cayenne pepper, oh! Tabasco sauce, and a teaspoon of vermilion paprika!” Homare stirred the mixture and it definitely looks red. It smelled interesting.

-Now to add in the coconut milk. As he stirred it in the milk the curry became a strange orange color. “Hmph. I suspected something like this would happen. Sooo, I bought this! at the grocery store.” Homare pulled out a small bottle of red food coloring. “This will be my saving grace! “ He opened the bottle and dumped the ENTIRE contents into the mixture. The ‘curry’ turned into a bright red. “Yesss. Prefecto!”

- Homare followed the rest of the recipe and gave his little creation a little taste. Immediately his face contorted. “Oho. I taste everything and yet taste nothing, and a little plasticky. I bet my favorite fountain pen that Izumi’s never tasted something like this!”

- Finally Homare plated his creation, half curry half rice but to make it unique he added his signature in ketchup on the rim of the plate. “With Adoration, Arisugawa Homare.”

- Right on time Izumi walked through the door along with Sakyo and Omi. “Happy Birthday Izumi! I made you a very special curry! I put my heart, soul and Mind into it.”

“You made curry! Homare,That’s so amazing!” Izumi cheered.

“It seems you’ve captured the cooking bug Homare.” Omi chimed in.

“Perhaps you can start taking up kitchen duty Arisugawa.” Sakyo added

“Yes, I wanted to show all of my appreciation to you. Now have a seat and I’ll present you my gift.”

- Izumi sat down, and Sakyo and Omi stuck around to see what Homare made.

“I cannot tell you how much work with into this, first Masumi tried to hog the kitchen, then he stole all of the curry out of cabinets! It had to be him, since when do we not have curry! But anyway here’s Homare Arisugawa’s very special! Made with Love! Organic! Thai Red curry!”

-Homare placed the plate onto the table and the reactions were intense. Izumi sat there with her mouth agape, Omi’s eye looked like they were gonna pop out out and Sakyo’s mouth resembled a thin straight line.

“You’re all speechless, but give it a taste and it’ll be a mind blowing experience!”

“It’s so red.” Izumi commented

“It’s really red and the rice looks interesting.” Omi said

“It looks like a waste of food.” Sakyo Sneered.

“You’re just jealous you didn’t create something this amazing. Go on taste it.” Homare said.

Izumi took a deep breath and took a scoop of Homare’s curry. She tried she really did but she had to spit it out. She had to.

Homare expression turned sad. “Oh. It isn’t good is it. I-”

“No! No! No! It’s great.” Izumi responded while trying to wipe her mouth. “Izumi it’s alright I-”

“NO! I mean yes. I mean no,It’s not good but you obviously put your heart into and that’s all that matter to me. So yes, It is of of the most special currys’ I’ve had. Thank You Homare, I loved my gift.” Izumi rose up and gave Homare a hug.

“Anything for you Izumi, I wanted to thank you for all you done for me.” Homare said.

“You know Homare, I can show you how to make curry. It’ll be fun! and we still need to make dinner for everyone”

Homare gasped “Yes! teachings from the mistress of curry herself, I shall become your humble servant!”

“I’ll give you guys a hand to, Izumi shouldn’t have to do all the cooking on her birthday.” Omi added.

-So they went into the kitchen to make a proper curry.“What happened to this knife?” Izumi said as they were beginning prep.

“AHAHAHA! TASUKU! TODAY IS THE DAY YOURS TRULY JOINS YOU ON ONE OF YOUR THREE HOUR RUNS.”

“Tch. Typical Arisugawa. ” Sakyo said as he opened his suit case began returning the curry jars and bottles to the cabinets.

(So sorry this took so long.)

#homare arisugawa #arisugawa homare #a3 act addict actors #a3! act! addict! actors!#izumi tachibana

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happys-crazy-queen22 · 4 years

Text

Title: Coffee Shop Romance

Gif credit @cactiem

Requested on wattpad

Happy Reading Dollies

Hope you all enjoy

You were dragging yourself to work when you saw the coffee shop in your distance, you needed a large coffee to keep you alive after the night of no sleep.

"What can I get you"? A young man in his late twenties, early thirties asked as you looked at the menu. You knew what you wanted but they always had something different each week for a pastry.

"Um, A very large coffee, with cream and sugar. Lots of sugar. Then I'll have a chocolate chip muffin, a bear claw and a apple tart with powdered sugar. A Danish and a powdered donut". You say with a smile that turned into a blush because he was staring at you with a cute grin.

"Would that be it? We have this amazing blueberry cake with a lemon glaze. It's so good".

"I think so. I'm not a fan of blueberries. Thanks though".

"Not a fan of blueberries? What"? He dramatically gasped with a laugh.

"Just not my thing. Not a fan of strawberries either". You say as you swiped your card.

"Are you even human? Everyone likes strawberries". He chuckled going to get your items.

"If you had a spicy pastry then I'll buy you out of it. I'm really into spicy things. I guess my job made me that way". You say as you started eating your muffin.

"What do you do"?

"I'm a firefighter at Chicago fire department".

"No way"? He stopped what he was doing and walked over to the counter.

"I use to work there myself. I'm Peter Mills".

"No way. Your dad is a legend".

"Yeah, he is. That's why I wanted to be a firefighter".

"Then why did you leave"?

"I didnt want to end up like him. So I came here to help out. My family owns this shop".

"Well I do have to say you make killer coffee and breakfast food. It has kept me alive for a long time". You chuckled pushing a piece of hair behind your ear.

"Are you on your way to work now"?

"Yeah. I'm kinda running late but I worked a double yesterday and didnt sleep good last night so it's okay".

"Oh. Well you have a safe day and I'll see you tomorrow morning". He smiled handing you your baggy of goodies and your coffee.

"Thanks, have a good day".

"I'll think about adding something spicy to the menu". Peter spoke before you walked out.

"I can't wait". You simply said with a smile as you walked out the door.

After a few months of visiting the coffee shop on your way to and from work Peter and you became quite good friends. He even made you a tester for new food he was thinking about.

"Taste this". You opened your mouth and he laid a harmless little donut on your tongue. Wrong, as you started chewing it up.

"Hot, hot, very hot". You fanned your mouth as you looked around for something to cool it off with. Peter laughing.

"What..was...in..that"?

"Fire balls, cinnamon and some cayenne pepper. Hot isn't"?

"That is not the definition of that donut".

"But was it good"?

"Yeah, strangely it was. With a nice glass of cold milk it would be great. I'll like some of this for the guys".

"You think they'll like them"?

"Yeah, they're wonderful. Kinda like you". You bit your lip waiting for Peter to catch on and surprisingly he did, fast.

"Me, wonderful? No, you're the wonderful one". He blushed.

You looked at him and batted your eyes softly. Taking a piece of cake that was on your plate and slowly put in your mouth.

Peter gulped. "Do you want to go out with me"?

"I thought you would never ask. Yes". You smiled and leaned closer to him. You could tell he was a little nervous but you pecked his lips with yours and got up from the table.

"Where are you going"? He asked with a chuckle.

"To get ready for out date of course". You blew him a kiss and went on your way. Peter relaxed in the chair and blushed like crazy, he couldn't believe it.

Peter didn't say where you were going, he picked you up from your apartment and drove around.

"Where are we"?

"Just wait and see". Peter pulled up to a building and cut the car off. He got out and ran to open your door.

"Close your eyes". He put his hand over your eyes and guided you along. Making sure you didnt bump into anything.

"Almost there".

"Peter". You giggled as he moved his hand.

"What's all this"? You gushed as you saw lights streamed around. A blanket on the top of the roof. A picnic was laid out and music was playing.

"I wanted our first date to be special. I hope you dont mind us just having a picnic"?

"I love it. You're amazing". You said with a twinkle in your eye as Peter lit up with joy.

You both sat down, talked, ate and danced. Laughed and really laughed. He was something else. Something special.

"I'm really enjoying myself and I don't want it to end". You tell him as your laying back on his arm as you two are looking at the stars in the sky.

"It doesnt have to. We can just stay here forever".

"I wish that was true". You said getting up and sliding your shoes back on.

"I need to get home, I have a early morning tomorrow". You sadly said.

"Okay". Peter got up and wrapped his arm around you taking you to the car.

Peter dropped you off at your apartment, kissed you goodnight and went on his way. He had the best night of his life and he could see doing it every night with you. It was just the first date and Peter was falling in love with you.

Months past, Peter and you had officially become a couple. You both enjoyed it so much that you basically moved in with him and sold your apartment. He treated you like a queen and loved every inch of you. You were madly in love with him. He was the sweetest, most kindest man you have ever met, besides Herrmann of course but he approved of Peter and you together. They all did.

One day you were coming home from work and stopped by the coffee shop to see what Peter wanted for dinner. He did most of the cooking but you wanted to surprise him.

"Hey beautiful". He grinned as you walked in.

"Hey baby". You kissed his lips and he walked you over to one of the tables.

"Everything okay"? You asked.

"Yeah, everything's great. You okay"?

"Yeah, just stopped by to see what you wanted for dinner"?

"Besides you"? He laughed, making you giggle.

"Yes, besides me. Anything special"?

"There is one thing". Peter got up from his seat and went behind the counter.

"Peter, what would you like? You name it and I'll do it". You say getting up when Peter didn't come back.

"Oh my god". Your hand went over your mouth.

"Will you marry me"? Peter was down on one knee, a black box in hand a silver diamond ring was in the other.

"Yes". You squealed as you attacked Peter with a hug.

"I can't believe this is happening". You say calming down. Peter took your trembling hand and slid the ring on your ring finger.

"I promise to love you and to be loyal to you. I promise to put you and our family before anything. I promise to be truthful and honest. I promise to take care of you until the our last breath. I love you Y/N Y/L/N".

By now you had tears running down your face. "I love you so much Peter. I'm so thankful you came into my life. I will always cherish you. You're my everything. I can't wait to be your wife". He grabbed your chin and kissed you deeply. You never thought of yourself as the settling down type until you met Peter. He changed you for the best.

#peter mills x reader #peter mills imagines #chicago fire peter mills #peter mills #chicago fire imagine #chicago fire fanfiction #peter mills fanfiction #happys crazy queen22

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lihikainanea · 3 years

Note

I did not have the best sweets making day.(tears) I had to walk away for awhile. The chocolates burnt when I was melting it wihich has never happened in all the years I have been making chocolate suckers. I turned the oven on and it was smoking. bbq sauce at dripped, I had to wait until it cooled to scrub it. Half the cookies were over cooked. Not burnt just a tad over done. 12 peanut butter blossoms came out great. I still took some to family. what would Bill do if Tiger had similar issue?

oh man boo, I just want to say that I had SO much trouble with my Christmas baking this year. My shortbread cookies--the same recipe I have been making FOR LIKE 15 YEARS--I had to make 3 batches this year. The first batch, I don’t even know what happened--but they turned out like mashed potatoes. The dough was sticking to everything. I used cookie cutters and in the oven, the cookies totally fucking melted and merged together into ONE GIANT BLOB. The second batch was fine, I cooked them for my standard 8 minutes and all was well, they were not even golden--but then somehow, once they started to cool, they turned dark brown and looked burnt to a crisp. I have no idea how this happens.

I tried my hand at royal icing and while I love to decorate cakes and whatnot, that was a complete fucking disaster. NOTHING WAS WORKING.

And look, I think tiger is dynamite in the kitchen. I think homegirl knows how to cook and how to bake. But my grandmother always said--and I really do believe this--you gotta bake from. place with love. If you go at it all agitated and angry and stressed, nothing will ever work out. You’ve gotta go in there looking for salvation, looking for peace, and your goodies will turn out every time.

And I think maybe tiger, especially around this time of year, has a To-Do list. And that list includes things she needs to bake. So by the time she gets her apron on after a long day of work, she’s already frazzled and irritated and impatient. She can’t remember how many cups of flour she already put in. She’s cracking eggs, and the eggshells are going everywhere. Maybe she accidentally mistook the cayenne pepper for cinnamon, and realized all too late. Either way, nothing is fucking working. Things that should be flat are puffed up and lopsided. Things that should be fluffy are flat as a pancake and burnt to a crisp.

And maybe Bill can hear the angry clatter of some pots and pans, but he’s staying out of it. He has his book, he has a comfy blanket and couch, and whatever tiger’s going through--she’ll either work it out, or she’ll whine for him. He’ll wait.

But eventually, the smell of burnt something wafts into his nostrils. The clanging of bakeware gets a little louder, and eventually, he hears it--tiger’s frustrated, angry whine. Sighing, he gets up and heads into the kitchen. Tiger has her face in her hands, a tray of cookies burnt black in front of her.

“Hey kid,” he says softly, “Everything okay here?”

She huffs, taking her hands from her face and looking at him incredulously.

“Does it look okay, genius?” she snaps, whipping the kitchen towel off her shoulder and slamming it to the counter. He gives her a warning look.

“One more time?” he asks--and it’s a veiled threat, it’s a chance for her to re-word what she just said.

Tiger scrubs her hands down her face, gives a loud frustrated whine.

“Nothing is working,” she groans, “I need to make like 5 dozen cookies and I have made these a thousand times and for some reason, tonight nothing is fucking working.”

He surveys the mess in the kitchen.

“Want some help?” he offers. She sighs so hard she nearly deflates, puttering over to him and thumping her forehead on his chest.

“Yes please,” she mumbles, “Make it better.”

Bill’s heart could explode. He gives her a big hug, kisses her deeply, and then heads to get his own apron.

“Alright, what have we got here?” he asks.

“I was trying to make shortbread cookies,” she mumbles, chewing on her thumbnail. He swats it away from her mouth.

He pokes the dough, and a big wad of it sticks to his finger. He pinches it, pokes some more, while she sidles up beside him.

“It’s unsalvageable,” she mutters.

“It’s not,” he says, “Get me some flour.”

She watches him as he focuses, adds some flour, a bit more butter, works the dough with his hands until it’s uniform but not sticky. He cuts it in half, plops one ball of dough in front of her, and flours a roller.

“Get it to a half inch thick,” he instructs. He sets on his own ball of dough, rolling it out. When tiger starts to fuss because hers is getting sticky again, he just calmly dusts some flour over it, peeks over her shoulder and guides her hands with the roller.

“Don’t Hulk it,” he says, “Just go gently.”

With his hands covering hers, a few sneak kisses to her neck, he helps her roll out her portion. She grabs a few cookies cutters and cuts some shapes, while he does the same. And when they’re on the tray and in the oven, he looks to her.

“What else?” he says.

“I need to make gingerbread cookies,” she mumbles.

“Okay,” he says, “Those have 8 minutes in the oven. Grab me some cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg.”

“No,” she says firmly, and she crowds his space as she loops her arms around his neck.

“No?”

“No,” she says again, “An 8-minute make out session first.”

#bill skarsgard #bill skarsgard drabble #BFF!Bill

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slashingdisneypasta · 4 years

Note

Could you do some cute baking shenanigans for Laughing Jack?

Sure thing!

To be honest, I have no idea what this mess is but its quite interesting? Haha

~~~

After a day of sitting in my new bedroom, in my new house, ignoring the world and generally having a wonderful time, I decide to finally emerge from my cave of comfort and happiness at nearly 6 in the afternoon to re-greet L.J, who’s been watching TV in the living room all day. Creeping up on him, I giggle when the palms of my hands land on his feathered shoulders -so soft! - and he jumps under my touch from surprise.

“L.Jayyyyyy,”

“So, the monster surfaces.” He whispers, then turns his head, fluffy hair brushing across my cheek as he does, and plants a kiss to my cheek. When he pulls back, he halts short, and quickly asks- “Ah, Y/N, do we live in a school district now?”

“What is this ‘we’? You paid for nothing in this house?”

“Yeah, but I eat all your food and watch all your TV; Therefore, I live here.”

I’m not entirely sure that does, in fact, eat all my food. Sure, I see him eat all the sweet things but I have never seen his lips touch any of the veggies or meats that periodically go missing. I have a theory that he’s keeping Offender fed, wherever he’s hiding out this time- the man hasn’t been seen since he showed up at the mansion 2 months ago in a drug fuelled haze, but L.J always has an update on him.

Besides, I can’t cook anyway and tend to end up ordering takeout, so its probably better this way. It would all go to waste. “Mm.” I tilt my head earnestly, letting go of him and instead resting my forearms on the back of the couch by him. “So, you’re a freeloader.”

He just bares his teeth in mirthless smile. “So, school district?” I sigh, deflating.

“No, course not.” I take his chin between my fingers and jostle his head sternly from one side to the other. “I wouldn’t stick you right in the middle of kiddy-town. Ever.”

“Damn it. Well, what do you wanna do for the rest of your day?” L.J deflates as well, slouching in his seat and looking forward again with a slight pout at not having been served victims on a silver platter with apples in their mouths. The corner of my mouth twitches up a few times, awkwardly, before I get off the back of the couch and head for the kitchen.

“I have an idea!”

He meets me in the kitchen, long stripy arms held tightly behind his bony back in curiosity. “Ooh, what is it?”

“Baking!” I rummage through the pantry for a moment, before coming out with my arms full of baking things - baking powder, flour, b-carb soda, food colouring, vanilla essence, and various cake mixes, - struggling to get them to the bench before anything fell and made a huge, flowery mess as L.J just watches, not even thing about lift a claw in assistance as his eyes follow me. When I finally drop everything down onto the counter, a little pack of jelly crystals flops to the floor and I pop down to my knees to pick it up. When I get back on my feet, I’m surprised to see L.J excitedly sifting through all the things.

Smirking at a couple different bottles in between his claws, L.J asks. “Say, don’t you need milk and butter and stuff to bake?”

“I’m getting to that, you exasperation!”

He just laughs.

___TIME SKIP: Minutes Later___

“Okay, so, the recipe says- ah!” A gasp rips from my throat when suddenly the Betty Crocker’s box mix is slapped up towards the ceiling and firmly out my hands without so much as a warning. “What??”

“No recipes!” L.J, not wearing an apron or a hat or having even so much as put his hair up, but has rolled up his sleeves to reveal -old,- bandaged arms, rests his fists on his hips and looks at the ingredients he set up all in a row from biggest to smallest like he’s Columbus and they are the America’s he just pulled his ship up by.

“No recipes?!”

He turns on me. “Do you wanna hear it in Spanish??”

Sighing, I look back at the now daunting task. “No… “

“Good.” Connecting his claws so they’re spread over his knuckles, twisting his wrists so his knuckles face him, L.J pushes them forward to stretch out his arms. “Lets go!”

As he starts picking ingredients out at random like Drop Dead Fred making a Vodka and Pants Pie, I pout to my fallen compatriot- the box mix packet which has fallen on the floor in a corner.

“Recipe… “

“What was that?!”

“Nothing!”

I may have made a huge mistake asking L.J to bake with me.

___TIME SKIP: “ “ ___

Oh merciful God, I know we’ve had a tremulous relationship as of late, with me being with L.J and everything, out of wedlock to boot, but please, oh God, do not let him destroy my new home!! I’m still paying off debts!!

Biting my thumb nail and hugging my stomach, I nervously watch L.J sift in what I know in my heart to be too much self-raising flower but am telling myself could be just the right amount, flashing him a smile around my nail when he glances excitedly at me for encouragement.

“There! Bee-you-tee-full! Now, the flavour. Hm.” Fists on hips and chest puffed out, he looks thoughtful; Truly, a child at heart. And… at… claw point- every Tuesday. “Flavour, flavour, flavour, flaaaa-vore. Hm. Flavour, flaver- Flavour! Ah!” In a flash of black and white, as while L.J was sifting random white powers into the big mixing bowl his sleeves had slipped back down, he grabs some random jars from a random shelf and starts shaking random… orange… dusts into the mixture.

“Uh, L.J, what’re those?”

“Flavour! Something to spice it up!”

“Yeah, I got that, but what kinda flav-“ I pick up a jar once he’s done with it, and see that he’s literally pulled from the spice shelf and sigh. Why am I not surprised? “Cayenne Pepper.”

L.J winks, leaning to the side to bump his elbow into my shoulder. “Secret ingredient.”

Ah… obviously.

Despite my nerves, which I’ve learnt to just go with in L.J’s presence, I flash him a toothless smile back.

___TIME SKIP: “ “ ___

After he shoo’s me towards the bowl so I can crack the eggs and pour in the milk, -‘adult jobs’, he says as he goes and opens a bottle of vodka, sniffing it and taking too-large mouthfuls, - I blow a raspberry at him.

And after I’m finished with that, we get the electric mixer going and each take turns serenely letting drops of randomly coloured food die into the bowl, leaning on the bench together and leaning over the thing like it’s a damn pot vaporiser.

Drop.

“L.J, are you happy? You know, killing children and all that.”

Drop.

“Yeah, I think so. Are you happy in your lawyering job?”

Drop.

“Law Practise, L.J. And yes.”

Drop.

“Ah, okay then.”

Drop.

“… L.J, are you harbouring Offender in the basement?”

“… L.J?”

He turns around abruptly, and cups my face; Claws resting along my cheeks and rubbing - or scraping gently in his case, - across, leaving wet blue food die on my skin. He tilts his head and smiles softly. “I love you.”

“… Okay so I’ll take that as a yes.”

Drop.

The mixture turns into a yucky brown mess, because it was whipped for too long, but feel like we aired out a lot of mess between so- Worth it.

Then we pop it in the oven and go back to watch more TV.

Rango is on.

___TIME SKIP: The Cake… or whatever… is now baked___

One Rango is over, and L.J and I have counted every background character for no reason, I finally smell the smoke through my sniffles -from standing over the spicey cake mix,- and remember the cake.

Gasping, I turn to L.J with wide eyes. A millisecond later, I kick off the couch and rush to the kitchen yelling to L.J about the cake.

“The wot?” Has he honestly become that invested in Rango to forget about his masterpiece??

Panicking, I rush to put on an oven mitt and make sure to open the oven door with my uncovered hand before waiving the grey smoke out of my face and standing up straight again to get away from the asthma inducing mess after I do so. I cough. “Oh jesus.”

“Oh! The CAKE!” L.J yells from the livingroom and pops up beside me, his teleportation only adding purple smoke and yellow sparks to the nasty grey smoke cloud wafting from the oven. He promptly takes a step back and waives his own hand- but doesn’t cough. Does he have lungs? “Oh, baby girl, what have you done?”

“I hope you were referring to the cake, there, L.J.” He is not blaming me for this mess-

“Oh- I was!”

“Right.” After setting him with a threatening squinty look, looking back only for a second because I don’t think my stare was quite withering enough, I look back to the oven and turn all the knobs down. Then I step back, open the fridge and retrieve the orange juice, and then finally go out to the backyard- something we probably should have done at five today instead of this baking disaster.

I open windows as I go.

“Well, come on L.J! It’ll take a while for that to cool down, we’re outside till then.”

“Ooooh, outside!”

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madrabbitsociety · 3 years

Text

Meghan’s Frickin’ Good Grilled Cheese Recipe

I’m so good at naming.

Since y’all seemed to like my Demon Tea recipe and my Magical Tuna Melt recipe, here’s my favorite grilled cheese sandwich. (also my ramen tips)

Ingredients: some goat cheese, butter, olive oil, wheat bread of some kind, did I say butter- I did. And fresh mushrooms. Don’t used canned ones, they’re nasty.

Start out by cooking your mushrooms. I basically use the same spices for almost everything but here’s how you do it- put a quarters sized bit of olive oil in a pan, then however much butter it please you, and then add the mushrooms. As they cook sprinkle in powdered garlic, salt, black pepper, cayenne, and some onion powder. Fuck if I know how much, I literally just shake it in there.

when they’re sufficiently moist, remove them from the pan. Now, here’s where having a second pan would be handy BUT I’m lazy and I don’t like doing dishes so I just use a paper towel to wipe out that excess wetness and make the pan super dry. I don’t know why you have to do this, because you’re just about to get it wet again, but seriously if you don’t want soggy bread then you should make sure the pan is dry.

while your mushrooms were cooking you could probably have started toasting your bread. OH YES you’ll need a toaster because I have sensory issues with things that aren’t essentially ‘foods that will cut the roof of your mouth’ and I cannot eat a grilled cheese if the bread hasn’t been made into a crouton first. So lightly toast two slices of bread. I dropped one on the floor and had to toast a third piece, but I’m assuming this step is optional.

OK so what you have right now is two pieces of toast and some seasoned & cooked mushrooms. Slather some melted butter (or Mayo, if you enjoyed my tuna recipe) onto both pieces of bread. Place one toast butter-side-down onto your pan which you should’ve had heating but I forgot to tell you that. Scrape as much goat cheese as you want (Me = A LOT) onto the bread in the pan. As that’s melting a bit, lay out your mushrooms on top of the goat cheese like little babies you’re tucking into bed but will definitely eat later.

I’m sorry.

NOW here’s a bonus step: Tonight I had some left over spinach and artichoke hummus. I carefully spread.. spreaded... smeared it on the non-buttered side of my extra toast and gently lowered the hummus blanket down onto my baby mushrooms. By now, the one side of your bread is probably burnt but the crunchier the better, babe!

So flip the sandy over and let the raw butter side toast up. When you’ve decided it’s the appropriate level of charcoal for your taste buds, remove it from the heat, slice it in a triangle shape because we’re heathens and enjoy.

#madrabbitsociety #mad rabbit society personal stuff

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stxphxn-strange · 4 years

Text

Paella: a shrimp gremlin!villain stephen crackfic

a/n: this is anti-steve and im not even a bit sorry about that

A Brooklyn Farmer’s Market, 11:23am

“I just don’t know how you DEAL with him!” Stephen said, picking up a lemon. “I feel like I need to meet this guy in person to just give him a piece of my mind.”

“Babe, you have met him,” Tony replied.

“But I haven’t been given the opportunity to give him a piece of my damn mind,” Stephen continued, “What else is on the list?”

“Did you get red peppers?” Tony asked. “And there’s no need to, he won’t listen.”

“That’s too bad, because he’d really benefit from what I have to say,” Stephen replied. “He’s no right to be such a dick to you. People who are rude to you don’t deserve rights, and they certainly don’t deserve paella. Prawn shrimp are earned, not given. And yes, I got bell peppers and poblanos. You got the prawns?”

“Yeah, earlier today,” Tony said.

“There are really only two things I want in life: I think everyone should exclusively refer to me as The Prawn King, and people should treat you like royalty,” Stephen muttered. He cast a longing look at some colossal shrimp on display.

“You mean like you?” Tony asked. “And we have enough shrimp to last until the season changes, so let’s go home. This paella won’t cook itself.”

“Does your lack of acknowledgement mean that you’ll call me The Prawn King?” Stephen asked, discreetly opening a portal.

Tony stepped through it first, looking over his shoulder at the sorcerer on the other side. “Nope! Not even in the bedroom.”

“Damnit.”

++++

Upstate NY, 2:30pm

“And another thing! I’ve seen his documents, he doesn’t use the Oxford comma! I don’t believe in anyone who doesn’t use the Oxford comma, Tony. And he probably likes… lobster.”

“What’s wrong with lobster?”

“Everything!”

Tony pouted mockingly at Stephen. “So you’ll never be the Lobster Bisque Gremlin? The Lobster Tail King? A spokesman for Red Lobster?”

“I will burn down something you love,” Stephen fake-threatened.

“Move away from the stove then dear, I don’t want you to burn yourself,” Tony replied.

The sorcerer was momentarily speechless before he wrapped his arms around Tony. For some reason the genius’ love still surprised him, and it would probably always move him to the point of tears.

“I’m not crying, it’s these damn onions,” he muttered.

“Of course it is,” Tony replied, giving him a soft kiss.

Things were well on their way to heating up (and not just on the stove) when the doorbell rang.

“Who the fuck—”

“I’ll get it! Just please don’t burn my prawns!”

“Our prawns, your majesty!”

Stephen smiled and jogged to the door, calling “that has a nice ring to it!” over his shoulder. His smile faded immediately when he saw who was on the stoop.

“Tony! I was in the neighborhood, and— wait. You’re not Tony.”

“No shit Sherlock.”

“Did you do something to Tony, you villain?”

Stephen laughed, leaning against the doorway and looking down at the man in front of him. “No, Steve, I did not. And if villain is the best insult-slash-descriptor you can come up with, then that’s just sad. We’re making paella.”

“Why would Tony cook with you?!” Steve asked, already beginning to get hysterical as he failed to understand what was going on.

“Allow me to explain, in layman's terms so that you might understand: when two men lo—”

“Babe where did you put the cayenne pepper?”

Without relieving Steve of his icy glare, Stephen replied: “It should be on the second shelf in the bottom cabinet, it’s probably behind something if you didn’t see it.”

“Fair enough. I’ll look again. Who’s at the door?” Tony asked, snaking his arms around Stephen’s waist.

“Hi Tony,” Steve said curtly. “I had no idea you were a traitor after work.”

“Since when does making paella with my boyfriend make me a traitor? It’s unprofessional to bring work stuff home, and he’s not even a bad guy,” Tony replied, looking at Steve from over Stephen’s shoulder. “Sorcerers aren’t villains, Steve. It’s just not that binary. While it was… nice… chatting with you, I have to go back inside and finish seasoning my food, something you still can’t seem to figure out.”

“I do season my food, I swear!”

Tony didn’t dignify that blatant falsehood with a response, instead he whistled a tune as he sauntered back into the kitchen.

Stephen, meanwhile, was waiting for Steve Rogers to get off of his front porch.

“Can I help you?” He quipped.

“I’m going to expose you to Tony, to make him see who you really are,” Steve threatened.

“Tony isn’t that impressionable and we both know it. I’ve been talking a fair load of shit about you and still he listens but forms his own opinions. He’s not a hothead like you,” Stephen replied. “Do you need something else or can I go back to my partner and my paella?”

“Can I have some paella?” Steve asked.

“Absolutely not. There’s no lobster in it anyway, so you probably won’t even like it,” Stephen said.

For some reason, that was the last straw. “What kind of a seafood paella doesn’t have lobster in it?!”

“Ours doesn’t, you barely toasted white bread! You’re really a pain in my side, I don’t know how anyone can stand to work with you. It must be blind hero worship, or maybe they’re just afraid of you, hm? Do you bully your coworkers, Steve?” Stephen drawled, knowing what the answer was and what the answer would be.

“I don’t. But if Tony tells you I do, maybe you’re the impressionable one. Idiot villain,” Steve scoffed. “You don’t deserve Tony.”

“That’s rich coming from someone who never deserved him,” Stephen replied. He shrugged. “Just my two cents.”

“You disgust me,” Steve snapped.

“The feeling is mutual. Goodbye, Steve Rogers.” Stephen slammed the door, and he was about to go back into the kitchen when he ran back to the door, opened it and yelled: “By the way: use the Oxford comma you sloppy bitch!”

He closed the front door again, leaning against it and sighing. Stephen closed his eyes for a moment, snapping them open when he heard Tony’s voice again.

“Prawns are done!”

“Ooh!”

#tony stark #stephen strange #ironstrange #incorrect ironstrange #anti steve rogers #shrimp gremlin villain!stephen #prawn shrimp gremlin villain!stephen #not steve rogers friendly #paella #brooklyn #wholesome ironstrange #ironstrange villain!stephen au #shrimp gremlin fic

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chimaeracabra · 4 years

Text

Cooking for Cap

Author’s Note: I’m Nigerian. Lately I’ve been cooking a lot of jollof rice, wanting something new to eat in quarantine times. It’s one of my favorite dishes. Lots of autobiographical info thrown in here.

Genre: Fluff/romance

Captain Steve Rogers leans attentively against the counter in the kitchen, watching Ada mete out a mess of seasonings he has never cooked with in his life. The centenarian usually ate whatever Sam, Bucky, Wanda, or Nat cooked. He isn’t very handy around the kitchen; he can make a good sandwich, a burger, the standard American diet, but he doesn’t know his way around cooking much where boiling isn’t involved. Ada’s umber gaze meets Steve’s and he blushes a little bit, returning her smile. Her teeth could have literally shined, they were so white in contrast to her rich espresso skin.

“I’ve heard of thyme,” he nods, as she holds the bottle up his way before dumping a large teaspoon of the herb into a saucer, where she had already collected sea salt, curry powder, and bay leaves.

“And this?” she asks, holding up a small clear bottle of something he hasn’t used before. The Captain’s wheat gold eyebrows arch as he reads the label.

“Cayenne…wait, isn’t that the stuff they put in pepper spray?” he asks a little nervously.

Ada laughs.

“I think so. But don’t worry, it’s still edible. And I never make it too spicy for…well…” Had it not been for the deepness of her complexion, Steve would have seen Ada blush, “when I cook it for other people,” she finishes, her eyes lingering a moment on his exposed forearms. They’re noticeably milky, in stark contrast to the black shirt he’s wearing, which hugs his shoulders such that Ada can see the bulge of his muscles when he shifts, standing up straight and gripping the counter. Measuring half a tea spoon of the lethal spice and adding it to the saucer, Ada’s heart throbs slightly as Steve smiles and starts around the counter until he’s standing next to her, seemingly mesmerized.

“The recipe actually calls for one and a half teaspoons of cayenne, plus a Scotch bonnet pepper, which I hardly ever use,” she explains, reaching for garlic and plucking about four cloves to peel.

“And I always like to do my garlic and ginger fresh,” she explains, sparing him a glance. As she peels the garlic, Steve’s white hand gracefully reaches for the plate of seasonings she’s compiling and he lifts it slowly to his nose. He closes his icy eyes and sniffs it gently.

“Mmmm,” he hums. Ada can just about feel this expression of satisfaction rumbling deep within his chest. He places the saucer back where it was gently.

“I can’t wait to try it, Ada,” he admits, “Aside from Thai food, I haven’t really had much of anything with all these powerful flavors,” Steve explains.

“Oh, yes, it’s—”

“ACHOOO!”

Steve had abruptly turned away from her in time to catch his sneeze, which causes Ada to laugh.

“Yeah. You never want to straight up sniff pepper,” she says, “Especially not cayenne.”

“Noted,” Steve sniffles, turning back to her, “Burns a little,” he says with an awkward smile, scratching the back of his neck. His nose has pinkened now and Ada knows that another sneeze is coming. The Captain makes it to the roll of paper towels and catches his sneeze, his ears met with the pleasant ring of Ada’s laughs. She wonders, had she had the actual pepper, whether the star-spangled hero would have been able to handle her jollof. Steve is so overtly strong that it was rather amusing to Ada that a bit of spice could pretty much take him out.

“Wow, that’s powerful,” he notes, before sneezing again, walking around the counter and returning to his safe distance from Ada’s preparation.

“It smelled good, though,” he admits, his eyes fixed on what she’s doing with genuine interest. Ada opens the food processor and drops the cloves of garlic in before finally peeling some fresh ginger and adding a smaller amount of the herb to the food processor. It’s loud for about thirty seconds before the device yields the desired result. She adds the minced garlic and ginger to the saucer with everything else. To Steve’s relief, Ada had purchased pre-chopped onions. She had admitted to hating cutting them herself. She often had to use goggles, they made her eyes so sensitive. The red of the bell pepper pops against Ada’s espresso fingers, and the sight is oddly satisfying to Steve’s sapphire gaze. He watches her chop and de-seed all three bell peppers before chopping two plump tomatoes, and adding the onions, peppers, and tomatoes to the Ninja Blender Natasha had bought for the kitchen not too long ago.

It doesn’t take long for the mixture to be like a soup, which Steve observes, having moved around the counter again to stand closer to Ada.

“This you can safely sniff,” she grins, opening the blender. Steve’s hands brush hers lightly as he reaches for it, and his heart skips a beat. Her laugh chimes in his ears again as he closes his frosty eyes and takes a sniff of the blended vegetables.

“Smells kinda like…salsa?” he says.

“It pretty much is, at the moment,” Ada beams. He places the blender on the counter again.

“Now, will you mix the herbs in?” she asks, handing Steve a wooden spoon. He’s honored she’s allowing him to do anything at this point. He had asked several times before she even started whether he could lend a hand, and Natasha had passed through at one point to tell him to “let the woman cook. He wasn’t Nigerian and didn’t know his way around their food,” which had caused the Captain to roll his eyes genuinely, but it made Ada laugh. And he loved when Ada laughed because her perfect teeth would show and just be so bright against her skin. It made his stomach do summersaults. Steve mixes the herbs into the blended vegetables as thoroughly as he can after removing the blender’s blades.

He watches Ada pour a half cup of vegetable oil into a large pan and cover it with a lid. At some point between preparing the herbs and chopping the vegetables, she had measured one and a half cups of water and poured it into a separate pot on the stove with the heat medium. She now dumps two and a half cups of brown rice into the pot to parboil it.

“And then all you do is heat the oil, simmer the vegetable mix, and add in the rice,” she explains, throwing away the peels from the garlic and ginger, the pieces of the bell peppers she omitted.

“I bet it’s going to smell delicious.” Steve mixes until the herbs are evenly dispersed, “Can I pour it?” he asks.

“In about ten minutes. Just need the rice to finish parboiling.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Normally, we use medium-grain rice in jollof. But I love brown rice,” Ada smiles. Steve loved brown rice, too. It was heartier, more satisfying than white rice. In fact, he thought it more visually appealing, as far as meal preparation went. It was just so earthy and healthy.

“If my dad saw what kind of rice I use, he would probably roll over in his grave.”

At this, Steve laughs genuinely, Ada following suit. He liked that she shared things like this with him. It wasn’t very hard to get to know Ada. From the moment he’d begun to train her, Ada had stood out among the other recruits in a way that Steve couldn’t really put his finger on. Maybe it was something in the way that her laugh made his heart race, or her cheekbones which could have cut diamonds, or the perfect way her hips were wide and swung when she walked, Steve blushing now as Ada traipses to the trash to throw away pieces of unused vegetable. He swallows hard. He has never really seen an ass like that.

“Are you okay?”

“Huh?”

“You didn’t sniff that cayenne again, did you?”

“What?”

“Your face is so red, Steve,” Ada explains.

Steve glances out the window, and Ada senses the faintest bit of nervousness emanating off of him.

“Guess that pepper got into the air a bit,” he says.

And he turns away in time to catch another sneeze in his elbow. Little does Ada know that this sneeze was in fact fake. Steve pulls himself together, hearing the sound of the refrigerator dispensing filtered water behind him. When he turns around, Ada is already approaching him with a glass of water.

“Here you go.”

“Thanks,” he says, and he blushes like a cherry for a moment. Ada begins to wonder if it was really the cayenne that had gotten to him again.

“How long does it cook for?”

“Maybe forty minutes. I usually lose count after thirty. I just like it to cook long enough that the rice is neither squishy, nor too al dente.”

He nods.

“And the other key ingredient, which I don’t personally use, is a bouillon cube.”

“Hmmm, I’ve never heard of a b…bou,” Steve struggles with the word, which makes Ada hold back a laugh, “B...booollon cube.” Ada starts laughing and Steve pulls his phone out of his pocket and Googles it. The phone says it and he repeats it correctly with finality, looking rather satisfied with himself.

“Yes. It’s a—”

“Stock cube. A type of broth, formed into a small cube about thirteen millimeters wide, typically made from dehydrated vegetables, meat stock, a small portion of fat, MSG, salt, and seasonings, shaped into a small cube,” Steve finishes, flashing her a smile, and pocketing his iPhone. Ada nods.

“Well, I think what you already used will be more than enough seasonings for me,” he adds, “Plus, I swear I’ve heard some bad news about MSG.”

“Yeah, that’s part of why I don’t use it,” Ada explains.

“Did your dad use bouillon cubes?”

“He did, actually. But I can’t remember him ever making jollof. I do remember him making rice and stew, and when I was in fourth grade, he’d make a lot of it, and my mom would come into the classroom and read about Kwanzaa to my class, hand out the food, and everybody loved it,” Ada continues, this faraway, nostalgic expression surfacing on her face as she leans back against the sink, her arms crossed as she nods into the gustatory memory.

“Yes, and my mum would bring in these kente cloth scarves and give one to everybody. My classmates really liked the way my mom would read the Kwanzaa book.”

“It’s like Hanukkah, sort of,” Steve chimes excitedly, “Well, I mean you still have that candle stand, which looks kind of like a menorah. But it’s like a celebration of the harvest, isn’t it?”

When Ada’s umber gaze meets Steve’s again, his pulse quickens.

“I spent a little bit of time in Wakanda and I was there during some of it,” Steve adds. He’s cultured, curious, open, and eager to learn, something which Ada finds rather delightful.

“Hmmm, let’s see…” Steve’s frosty gaze is cast skywards momentarily, “There are seven principles. Umoja, for unity in the family and community. Ujima, collective work and responsibility…boy, there’s a bunch I won’t even try to pronounce or I’ll butcher it,” he grins. Ada finds herself very impressed suddenly, especially considering how much trouble he’d had pronouncing bouillon, a French word. The principles just sort of rolled off Steve’s tongue as though he’d said the words regularly.

“You know a lot more than most people.”

Steve shrugs.

“Well, that’s a shame. African history is American history.”

“Very true.”

Ada’s heart swells. There’s a moment of silence between the two, where they’re just looking at each other. Steve shifts slightly, his brawny arms traveling from across his chest, his hands landing on the counter on either side of him. There’s a noticeable vibe or tension between them, so thick that the pair is almost certain they could cut it with a knife.

“Do you actively celebrate?” Steve asks.

“Me? Oh, my family did. Sometimes, one of my aunts would invite everyone over and one of my uncles would lead a libation in Igbo,” Ada smiles, lost in memory again, “And in my immediate family, we did it when I was growing up. But over the years, we just kinda got lazy and kept forgetting to light the kinara—the candle holder. So, eventually, we stopped.”

Steve looking rather sad to hear so makes Ada feel the same way.

“That’s too bad,” he says, “People don’t really observe holidays like they did when I was coming up. We used to actually go to church and mass for Christmas. I never really got that many gifts growing up poor, and now it’s all the kids ever care about. They don’t really understand the significance of the holiday anymore. Same applies to a number of other holidays.”

“I agree. It’s gotten very…secular.”

Steve sighs wistfully, shakes his head in disappointment.

“Ada, I tell you, if I had kids, they’d understand their roots and the history behind that. It really teaches values that people don’t exactly bother to pass down in quite the same way in this day and age.” His gaze makes her uncomfortable suddenly, but not in a bad way. Just the way he was talking made it feel like it was about her specifically. Sometimes she forgets just how old Steve is. It’s very clear to her that his life experiences have taught him things in a similar, yet vastly different way. He could appreciate things like this in ways many people were simply not open to in her experience.

“That makes sense. I mean, I couldn’t really tell you everything about Kwanzaa, if I’m honest. But the food is just so vivid to me.”

“Food is something everybody likes, right?” Steve beams, “It’s a great way to experience culture.”

Ada nods, “I’ve never made it myself, but my dad used to make fufu—”

Steve snaps his fingers, “I’ve had that. With the spicy soup? Burnt the mouth off me when T’Challa had me try it,” Steve reminisces. Ada laughs.

“Very tasty, though.”

“Yes, that’s why it’s called pepper soup,” she giggles, “You’re brave, Steve.”

“He warned me, too,” the Captain grins, “But I liked the flavors.”

“So, then my jollof will be less than mild for you.”

The timer goes off and Steve checks the rice with an oven mitt.

“This ready?” he asks, gazing into the steaming pot. Ada hurries over to dip her spoon in the side and check that the water is gone. When she finds that it has all evaporated, she nods and turns on the pot inside which she had poured the vegetable oil.

“Now, we just heat this oil up, and you can add in the vegetable mix.”

Steve reaches for the blender full of blended onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, and herbs, removing the lid and closing his bright eyes to inhale a few more times. There’s something almost erotic about the way his chiseled face develops such a satisfied look. And he gazes down at her, the corner of his full, pink lips curling. Ada melts for a handful of seconds, beginning to sweat a little bit. She suddenly tears her gaze away and uses the same oven mitt with which Steve had checked the rice to lift the lid off the pan of oil and find that it is beginning to bubble and pop.

“Shit,” she mumbles, “go ahead, before the oil splashes.” She moves clear out of Steve’s way and he pours the vegetable mix into the pan, her ears perking up to the sizzling noise that it makes.

“Wow,” Steve states, turning the heat down, something Ada was about to do when he beat her to it. He reaches for the wooden spoon and stirs the mix into the oil, as if he has cooked this hundreds of times before.

“Is this good?” he asks.

“Yes. You’ve definitely gotta turn the heat down so it doesn’t burn.”

Steve nods. Shortly, he places the lid back on the pot to get it to heat up the vegetable mix faster.

“And once that’s hot enough, add the rice?”

“You’re a natural,” Ada shrugs, impressed with his eagerness to cook. Steve has been wanting to get better at cooking, and his hands-on approach allows her to relax a little bit.

“In the meantime, I’m gonna go ahead and wash these.”

Ada retrieves the blender and the food processor.

“You’ve already worked so hard. Don’t add in extra work for yourself,” Steve explains, taking the blender out of her hands before she can put it in the sink and opening the dishwasher, which still has dirty dishes from breakfast in it, and the pan on which Wanda had made some sort of Sokovian pancakes for everyone. Ada loves this about being on the team. Everyone is so warm and inviting to her so far, sharing their homelands in the kitchen. She finds herself looking forward to some Asgardian dish Thor had decided to cook for dinner.

Steve’s milky hand brushes Ada’s as he takes the food processor, disassembling it, and placing the parts strategically in the dishwasher. He then reaches into the cupboard for a clean dishtowel, soaking it under hot water, and adding a little dish liquid before rubbing it to get suds and approaching the counter where she’d prepared ingredients. Ada lifts the cutting board out of his way and pauses at the sink to watch Steve wipe the counter clean. She had seen him clean up before, but something about it is very appealing and she turns away to finally wash the cutting board, glad he can’t see her blush. By the time she turns around, she finds Steve spooning the rice into the pan. She leans against the counter to watch him stir until everything is evenly dispersed. He places the lid on again, turning to look at her.

“Thirty minutes? Forty?” he asks.

“Just do thirty for now.”

His fingers punch in the numbers and he looks rather satisfied with himself. His stomach growls audibly and he blushes.

“The stomach doesn’t lie!”

Ada giggles.

“Can you wait that long?” she asks.

“Of course. How about some coffee in the meantime?”

Before Ada can answer, Steve is already pulling the French press and his favourite brand of coffee out of his area in the cupboards. Steve loves coffee. It’s his favorite part of the day, and everyone knows never to borrow Steve’s coffee without asking first. He just wasn’t himself in the morning without it. He preps it all so quickly, producing two large mugs by the time Ada answers him.

“Sure, I’ll have a little.”

“A little? Come on,” he says, that New Yorker accent making its way out of his mouth. He winks, causing Ada’s heart to race again. The scooper looks comically small in Steve’s large hand as he scoops a generous amount of the ground beans into the French press. Ada helps him by filling the kettle and placing it on the stove. Steve turns it up high, eager for his coffee.

“It’s starting to smell good.” Steve hovers near the cooking rice and inspires deeply.

“It’s my favorite west African dish.”

“I can always tell by the smell that I’m gonna like something,” Steve explains.

Shortly, the kettle whistles and Steve wastes no time in pouring the boiling water into the French press.

“You take cream and sugar?” Steve asks, stepping towards the fridge.

“Uh, I can’t do dairy.”

“Oh, right. I forgot, sorry,” he explains, glancing back at her before finding her almond milk. He shakes the bottle, something he has seen Ada do several times in the morning before adding some of it to her cereal. He glances at the bottle.

“You, uh, like vanilla?” he asks. Again, she’s glad he can’t see her blushing.

“I don’t know what kind of psychopath uses plain almond milk in their cereal,” Ada explains, cocking an eyebrow. This causes Steve to laugh heartily as he places the milk on the counter beside the French press. Ada’s humor is very unique, he has learned, and it always leaves his gut aching, especially when she doesn’t laugh nearly as hard as something she’s said causes others to laugh.

“Well, you’re in luck, doll,” he says. Doll. Ada has heard him call only his closest female acquaintances this nickname, but something about the way he says it to her is just unique, “‘Cause I only do French vanilla for coffee. I’ll do hazelnut every now and then, but something about vanilla…”

Many times, Ada had passed by Steve in the kitchen and he’d been caught off guard by something he’d smell. It took a while, but he had begun to realize that it was Ada’s skin or hair. He never got quite close enough to distinguish which part of her it was, but it always smelled very pleasant to him. As she turns on her heel to bring the saucer she had put the herbs on to the dishwasher, her braids whip slightly in their pony tail, and Steve catches the scent again. He closes his eyes in the moment, not wanting the aroma to dissipate. He turns away towards the counter again, unable to fight the fire beneath his cheeks. He keeps his back turned as he presses the plunger down slowly, forcing the coffee beans under pressure, releasing their oils and scent.

She hasn’t had the pleasure of Steve making her a coffee yet, but he always would if anyone asked. His nisus to get her a cup fascinates her as she watches him lift the lid of the French press. Carefully, he brings it to her nose and she takes a whiff.

“Wow, that’s powerful,” she says, closing her eyes. Steve smiles.

“Trust me, you won’t find a brand as good as this one anywhere else,” he promises, handing her the bag so that she can read the label.

She watches Steve pour and mix some vanilla almond milk into her cup, stirring it gently.

“You may not even need sugar,” he says, pouring his own cup next. He adds one spoon of sugar to his cup before taking her almond milk back to the fridge. He makes his way back to the counter without the milk.

“You don’t use creamer?” Ada asks.

“No. I like my coffee black,” he explains, looking her full in the eyes as he continues to stir his cup. A lump develops in Ada’s throat, and she can’t tear her eyes away from the Captain’s, but her hand reaches shakily with his bag of coffee and places it back on the counter top. There’s not much space between them now, and Steve looking down at her creates that tension again. It’s rather swift when he ducks his head to compensate for her height at last. Her hands already knew where they wanted to land, and she finds herself clutching Steve’s shoulders as his mouth makes full contact with hers.

Steve’s lips are as kissable as Ada had imagined. They aren’t thin, like some of the white men she’d kissed before. But hers are as juicy as he thought they would feel. His hands rest gently at the small of Ada’s back, and she’s a little surprised when his tongue makes contact with hers. He’s not shy at all. A satisfied mmm emanates from Steve’s mouth, traveling through Ada’s whole being, causing her to shiver, despite the heat of his hands, one of which is drifting towards her rear. He seems to be enjoying a taste, a smell, similarly to how he had sniffed the blended vegetables. She starts to wonder how long Steve has been wanting to do this. The thought had crossed her mind several times.

“It smells amazing in—!”

Natasha stops dead in her tracks, Steve releasing Ada’s left butt cheek almost as quickly as he had grabbed it.

“Here,” Natasha finishes, cocking a flaming brow and smiling, Sam beside her looking away as if he hadn’t seen anything, but the two of them know that he did. Steve scratches the back of his head a moment, looking rather disappointed to be interrupted.

“Ada is making us jollof rice for lunch,” Steve explains, crossing his arms.

“Uhuh,” Natasha nods, walking towards the cupboards and pulling out one of her bags of popcorn before popping it in the microwave.

“Call me when it’s ready.” Sam’s voice fades as he makes his way casually out of the kitchen.

“Well, I’ve been wanting to ask you out on a proper date,” Steve explains, looking hypnotized as he speaks quietly to Ada, knowing that Natasha can still hear him. Ada gazes past him at Natasha, who is grinning knowingly. The redhead gestures to her encouragingly.

“Ya know, at like a restaurant, where we can eat…in private.”

Ada laughs. For a moment, Steve looks crushed.

“I’d love to, Steve.”

He exhales in what seems like relief, and they reach for their coffee at the same time, unaware of the buttery aroma filling the kitchen, mingling with the jollof’s savory scent, the popping noises in the background, that same tension resurfacing.

“It’s about time, Rogers. I knew you liked her!”

Steve nearly chokes on his coffee.

30 notes · View notes

phantoms-lair · 4 years

Text

MSA Secret Santa

@accidental-child

Arthur sighed, leaning against the steering wheel of the van. The bus was a little late, but that wasn’t unexpected. Not out here at any rate.

There was a small selfish part of himself that wished he hadn’t picked up the phone that day. It was selfish - and ridiculous. The call had been at the garage, he needed to answer those calls!

It had been some great Aunt, or far removed cousin. He wasn’t quite sure how they were related. Apparently her son was originally going to spend summer break with one of his friends, but their trip had been cut short. The problem was said parents and their daughter had already made other arrangements and wanted to know if the aforementioned son could stay with Lance.

The problem was, Lance wasn’t there and wouldn’t be for a while. He was off on a road trip with some of his old buddies from his days when he absolutely positively was not a wrestler. It was a well overdue vacation and Arthur wasn’t going to call him back from it.

But something stopped him from just turning her down. It wasn’t her, but… it was the idea that their current plans ‘couldn’t be altered’. Lance had planned his trip to originally be last year, but he’d dropped everything after Arthur had turned up in a hospital without an arm. Also that they were reaching out to family that wasn’t that close at all made Arthur wonder if the closer relatives had also had plans that couldn’t be altered. It stank too much of no one wanting this kid, and damned if he was going to add to that

So here he was, waiting for a cousin he’d never met who’d be spending a month with him. He didn’t think it would matter so much if he wasn’t the age he was - 18. Younger would have been easier to slip into a child-guardian relationship and older meant this wouldn’t have been an issue in the first place. But 18 was an age of feeling you were coming into your own authority, and much more likely to take onus with someone a mere five years older than you being in charge.

The bus pulled up and Arthur braced himself. Two figures got off the bus, his cousin and...a dog? A rather large dog at that. Something else Aunt Wendy had forgot to mention. Hopefully it was good with other dogs and hamsters.

Pushing his misgivings aside, Arthur left the van with a big welcoming smile. No need to borrow trouble till it was here. “Hi, you must be Norville, right?”

The teen winced. “Like, call me Shaggy please. I hate Norville.”

“Done and done.” Arthur agreed readily. “The name Norville is thus dead and shall never be spoken from mine lips again.”

“Ri’m Scooby Doo.”

Another talking dog, huh. “Just to make certain, you’re not actually an ancient kitsune with an evil Japanese tree after you?”

“Like, not that we know of?” Shaggy looked confused. So did Scooby so Arthur let it slide.

“Okay, let’s get some food, and we can figure out stuff out.” Apparently he said the right word, because his cousin and dog perked up a lot. “Let me help you with your bags.” “Is your arm metal?” Shaggy asked, surprised.

“Sure is, made it myself.” Arthur wiggled his fingers at him, inwardly bracing himself. “That’s cool.” Shaggy said earnestly, picking up his other suitcase.

No ‘How did that happen?’ or ‘That must be so terrible’? Okay, thus far Arthur was counting this as a win.

“So,” Arthur started as they slid into a booth at Pepper Paradiso, “Let’s go over your options.”

“Options?” Shaggy asked, surprised.

“Yeah, you have two main options, and we can tweak them as need be. The first is what I told your Mom. You come to stay with me and my boyfriend and girlfriend. We’ve set up a spare room for you, and Scooby I guess, sorry no one told us he was coming.” “If you’d prefer not to deal with three people being kinda mushy, or just want more privacy I’d give you a key to Lance’s place. You could stay in my old room and basically have the house to yourself. I’d still be checking in everyday and making sure you had food and stuff, but other than that, you’d be on your own.”

Shaggy seemed to think a moment. “You have a boyfriend and a girlfriend? You can do that?” “Yes.” Arthur answered simply.

“Okay, like if it’s all the same, man, I’d rather stay with you. I don’t think me or Scoob want to be alone.”

Arthur tried not to take it as a warning sign. True, most teens would jump at the first chance to be on their own, but that was hardly universal. There was a small feeling that something was wrong, not just parental negligence. What, he didn’t know. And truthfully it could be nothing. Arthur had a tendency to jump to worst case scenarios (catastrophizing, his therapist had called it), so for now he’d wait and see.

“So is this the mysterious cousin?” Mrs Chef Pepper came over, winking .

“Yeah, this is Shaggy. Shaggy, this is one half of the best cooking team in Tempo, and honestly Texas.”

“Flatterer. My name’s Carmella Pepper. My husband’s running the kitchen, so I have the front end today. I assume the usual, Arthur?” “With no Cayenne additions, please.”

“She’s banned from the kitchen after the last hot sauce-strawberry shake.” Carmella assured him. “What about you, Shaggy?”

Shaggy looked at the menu. “Like, could Scoob and I each get a ‘Vivi Special’ “ he pointed to the menu.

She raised an eyebrow. With the exception of its namesake, the Vivi Special was usually ordered to be shared by a family. She’d never seen an order of two of them. “Do you want the plate of spicy chorizo or pancake poppers?” Scooby and Shaggy looked at each other. “One of each please. And, like separate checks? Mom set up an account for me for food and stuff.” Arthur tried to hide his relief. One extra mouth he could feed. Two more Vivi appetites would have strained his budget beyond feasibility.

~ “Lewis, Vivi— we’re home!” Arthur called, letting himself and his two guests in.

“Welcome home, Arty.” Lewis greeted, pulling his boyfriend in for a kiss. “So this must be Nor-”

“The name is not to be spoken. It has been cast into the abyss and replaced with Shaggy.” Arthur said with a completely straight face. “It has become one with the void.” Lewis rolled his eyes. “Sorry for the melodramatic one, I’m Lewis. Lewis Pepper.”

Shaggy shook his hand while Arthur sputtered over Lewis calling him melodramatic. “Pepper, like the people who run the restaurant?” “My parents.” Lewis explained.

“Wow, like they’re great cooks, man. It’s the first place me and Scooby found that we could be full off one thing on the menu.” “If you can call the ‘Vivi Special’ one thing.” Arthur quipped.

“Someone call me?” Vivi slid into the front room, literally, her socks holding no traction on the hardwood floor, causing her to crash into Lewis. “Arthur’s cousin Shaggy is a fan of your addition to my parents menu.” Lewis said.

“Ooooo Did you get the version with the spicy chorizo or pancake poppers?”

“Like, Scoob and I got one of each. I really liked Aztec Chocolate sauce on the sweet chili!”

“I know! And the smoked gouda filled jalapeño poppers!”

“Arthur, I think our girlfriend just adopted your cousin.” Lewis commented.

Vivi stretched as she got home from her morning shift at the Tome Tomb. Arthur was having a full day at Kingsmen’s, so she figured she’d check in on Shaggy and Scooby before getting in some serious cuddle time with Lewis.

She found them in the living room, Shaggy was looking at a book. Not reading it, but staring at the cover, while Scooby leaned against him comfortingly. “Everything okay boys?” She asked softly.

Shaggy took a moment to answer. “Do you believe in this stuff? Magic and monsters?” “As a matter of fact I do.” She tried to keep the humor out of her voice. Shaggy had no idea he was spending the remainder of his summer with a ghost and a kitsune. “Do you?”

Shaggy didn’t answer. “Doesn’t it scare you?” he asked.

“The supernatural? Not really. Or at least, not more than anything else.” She sat down next to him. “There’s good and bad magic, just like there’s good and bad technology. Some beings are friendly, some just want to be left alone, and some are truly evil, just like people. You always, always, have to be careful. But I’d rather know, you know?” Shaggy shook his head. “Like, I think I’d rather not.” He looked at the book again. “Like, have you ever heard of something called the Chest of Demons?”

“Not off the top of my head, why?”

Shaggy shook his head. “Nothing, like what’s for lunch?” Vivi accepted the topic change, but didn’t forget what she’d heard. This merited some digging into.

Arthur felt dead on his feet (though not quite as much as Lewis, ha!) as he got home that evening. Working in the garage was one thing, but running it was quite another. He couldn’t wait for Lance to get back.

It was Vivi who greeted him at the door, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing him. Arthur melted into the embrace, the warmth he felt in his heart giving him back the strength spent on budget balancing and unruly customers.

But as he felt himself relax, he realized she wasn’t easing up. Something was wrong. “What is it, Vi?”

“Your cousin.” She answered, her head still buried in the crook of Arthur’s neck. “He was looking at my books and mentioned something called the Chest of Demons. I hadn’t heard of it, so I sent out some feelers.”

“Bad?” Arthur guessed, as if the name didn’t give that away.

“Not just the chest itself. I still don’t know what it is, because one of the few things I did manage to learn is it’s protected by near total secrecy. It’s not something he could have just randomly heard of.”

Arthur’s mouth set into a grim frown. He could think of a few reasons, but none of them were good.

“And this isn’t some random client messing with something he shouldn’t, he’s your cousin and I like him, but this is serious.”

“I’ll talk to him.” Arthur promised.

“No!” Vivi squeezed him tighter. “I don’t want to think he’s up to anything bad, but-” Honestly with how Shaggy had reacted to ‘Magic and Monsters’ she doubted it, but she couldn’t be sure and she wasn’t willing to put any of her boys in the path of danger.

Arthur laid a gentle kiss on her forehead. “You can have one of the Beats watching over us if it makes you feel better, but we can’t leave this alone and he’s nervous enough I don’t want him to feel like we’re ganging up on him.”

“That still puts you at risk,” Vivi argued.

“There’s always a risk, love. And you can’t take all of them for me. And I think this is a small one. Have you talked to Lewis yet?”

“Talked to be about what?” Lewis popped his head in. “You guys were taking a while. Is everything okay?”

“Shaggy may or may not have gotten mixed up in something supernatural and I want to talk to him about it. I want to do it alone so I don’t overwhelm him, but Vivi doesn’t want me to go talk about an evil artifact with the person who brought it up by myself. I volunteered to take a Beat with me.” “Take Mystery too.” Lewis suggested. “Shaggy likes him, so he wouldn’t feel ganged up on.”

Vivi let out a sigh of relief. “I love your Deadbeats, Lew, but I feel a lot better about that plan.”

“Hey Shaggy,” Arthur sat down. Mystery curled up by his feet, looking innocuous, but keeping a careful eye on Shaggy and Scooby.

“Hey,” Shaggy didn’t look up from the video game he was playing. “Like, how was work?”

“Not too bad. Can we talk about something?”

“Sure, man.” Shaggy paused the game. “What’s up?”

So many questions ran through Arthur’s head. Why do you know about the Chest of Demon? How did you find out about it? How much do you know? But there was one question he felt the need to ask above all the others.

“Are you in any danger?”

Shaggy blinked, caught completely off guard. “Huh?”

“You brought up something called the Chest of Demons to Vivi today. She did some digging. It was bad.” Arthur kept it vague to hide how much he didn’t know. “It’s also not a name you’d just stumble on. So, are you in any danger?” Shaggy deflated. “Like, not right now. Probably later. Thirteen seems to be keeping a low profile, but given the other twelve? At least Boggle and Weird are sealed up.”

Okay, Arthur didn’t understand any of that after ‘Probably later’. “Can you start at the beginning?”

“Okay, so like originally the five us were supposed to spend the summer on a global road trip, but Fred and Velma ended up going to camp, so like it was just me, Scooby, and Daphne. And we kinda sorta got lost. We ended up in the place where the chest was hidden. There were these two ghosts, Boggle and Weird. They wanted the thirteen evil spirits in the chest free, but it can only be opened by the living. So they tricked me and Scoob into opening it.and setting their masters free.”

Shaggy then rolled his eyes. “And of course only the ones who open the chest can return them, so like, suddenly we’re chasing down the nastiest ghoulies this side of the River Styx. We got the first twelve and got Boggle and Weird sucked in for good measure but with no sign of number thirteen Vincent cut us loose till he finds him.”

“Vincent?” Arthur inquired.

“A mystic who knows a lot about the Chest of Demon and it’s prisoners. He’s been helping us.” Shaggy shrugged. “Daphne suggested continuing our vacation while we’re on break, but I just kinda wanted to go home.” “Did you tell your family any of this?” Arthur wondered.

His cousin snorted. “Besides you? Like no one would believe me! And Daphne….” Shaggy trailed off.

“And Daphne?” Arthur prompted.

“It sounds weird to say, but this seemed to be, like, good for her? Before she kinda followed whatever Fred said. This summer though, she was taking charge and becoming more confident in herself. And like, I’m happy for her, but it means-” Shaggy seemed to struggle for his words, Scooby putting a reassuring head on his knee. “I’m a coward. I’d rather run from scary things than fight them. And I know I have to get them back in the box, cause it’s my fault they’re out-”

“Rour fault,” Scooby corrected.

“-but I’m scared all the time and I don’t want to be and no one but Scoob seems to get that.”

“Of course you’re scared,” Arthur scoffed. “You’ve had thirteen evil spirits after you. That’s objectively terrifying. You’d be crazy not to be scared.”

Boy and dog seemed taken aback.

While he couldn’t say he had been expecting those details, at least this lined up with what Arthur suspected, that Shaggy had stumbled into trouble, not sought it out.

“Okay, so first things first, what do you know about Spirit #13? What kind of spirit is it?” Arthur’s voice was all business.

“Not yet, Vincent usually tells us about them as he finds them.” Shaggy explained.

“If you can contact him, see if you can find out what we’re dealing with. It’ll be more effective if we can narrow that down.”

“What will be?” Shaggy asked, confused.

“Protective wards. That reminds me. Lewis, Vivi, Shaggy has a potential evil spirit after him. Brainstorming time.” “Huh?”

Lewis and Vivi showed up a bit too quickly to not have been listening in, but Arthur hoped Shaggy wouldn’t notice.

“There’s already some basic wards against hostile entities on the house, Pepper Paradiso, Lance’s, Kingsmen’s, and the Tome Tomb.” Vivi listed.

“I’ve got a few things around town warning me of anything of any level of power entering.” Mystery put forth. “It’s only weak spot is the lake.”

“Which has a protector of its own.” Arthur had a wry grin. “Nothing coming in from that side.”

Shaggy and Scooby shared a confused look. “You guys had this already set up?”

“You get surprised by a Jubokko once, you take precautions.” Vivi said dryly. “But this is all general stuff. The more specifics we know, the better defenses we can make. We can also figure out what places near your home we need to ward, or come up with something portable.”

Shaggy just looked between the four of them, confused. “Why?”

Lewis took a deep breath ( or at least mimed doing so). “Shaggy, you’re Arthur’s cousin, do you know what that means?”

Shaggy shook his head.

“It means you’re family, you’re our family. And we protect family however we can.” Lewis stated. “And we know monsters exist. We’ll be ready.”

Shaggy seemed at a loss for words. His mouth opened and closed a few times. “Thank you,” he finally whispered, his voice raw with emotion.

Arthur pulled him into a hug. “That’s what family does.”

#Accidental-Child #MSA #Scooby Doo #MSAHolidaySpirits2019

103 notes · View notes

dontatmethanks · 5 years

Text

Love, I’ll serve it to you.

A levihan fic (modern AU)

A/N: Soo I had a dream about this the night before yesterday, and I couldn’t let it go so I’ll just post this here and on AO3 🙃

———————————————————————

“We’ve special guests incoming on table five!” Nanaba yells across the bustling kitchen.

Hange looks up from the tickets she was reading and raises an eyebrow at Nanaba as she makes her way over to stand next to her in front of the grill line.

“Business men, they’re having a very important meeting with a very important socialite.” Nanaba explains while waggling her blonde brows at her.

Hange snorts.

“Of course they chose this place.”

“They choose very wisely, Wall Maria is one of the best hot spot in this town!” Nanaba says, proudly puffing out her chest. Hange laughs.

Well she wasn’t wrong, Wall Maria is indeed one of the best restaurant bars in their city. It was owned by Nanaba and her longtime partner Mike Zacharias. They first opened it when they first graduated out of culinary school together, which was where they met. Hange’s heart always jumps for them when she thinks of their story, they were so lucky to have each other. They were soulmates.

Hange knew Nanaba since high school, they were best friends ever since. As soon as the restaurant was opened they knew that they wanted Hange to work with them. Ever since then Hange has been their best server and house Manager.

“I need every single dish that lands on that table to be nothing but exceptional, am I clear?!” Mike yells from the other side of the grill line.

“YES CHEF!” All the cooks in the kitchen yell in unison, flames bustling from burners.

“I need you to work that table.” Nanaba tells Hange who immediately groans in protest.

“Pleaseee Hange! Your out best server, everybody loves you!” Nanaba pleads her with clasped hands.

“Especially the rich old men.” Hange jokes with a roll of her amber eyes.

Nanaba pouts at her and Hange of course can never say no to her best friend.

“Fine.” She sighs.

“Yes! Okay they’re looking at their menus right now so showtime’s in two minutes. Give them your warmest most dazzling smile!”

Hange rolls her eyes before giving her an exaggerated smile.

“Perfect!” Nananba laughs before making her way to check on a lobster dish one of their youngest cooks, Eren, was plating.

Hange huffs before fixing her apron and adjusting her glasses and tightening her ponytail. She slips her notepad and pen into her apron pocket before grabbing a pitcher of fresh iced water and making her way into the dining room.

She immediately notices the table from the farthest side of the room, she can pick out the expensive suits very clearly from the rest of the guests.

As she reaches the table she takes notice of each of the diners, there were four of them. One was a man with shiny blonde hair and peircing blue eyes, he had an authoritative vibe to him. The man that sat in front of him was heavyset with slicked back dark hair and a thick mustache. His dark beady looking eyes immediately raked over Hange’s form when she approached, it made her skin crawl. The man who sat next to him was thinner and had dark brown hair that was made into a side part, his face was indifferent as he glanced at the rolex on his left arm.

The last man though, caught Hange off guard. He had short ink black hair that was cut into an undercut. His fringe fell delicately over his boyish face, even though his greyish blue eyes held a bored look he looked the youngest out of all of them. His skin looked pale but soft, and his dark blue suit looked to be the most expensive of the table. Most importantly he was very, very attractive.

Hange swallowed thickly before slapping on one of her most brilliant smiles that she could muster.

“Evening gentlemen, my name his Zoe,” she spoke in a cheery manner, gesturing towards her nametag. “I’ll be your server for today so we’ll be getting to know each other pretty well.”

The man with the beady eyes chuckled obnoxiously.

“I sure hope so.”

Hange laughed nervously, she could feel the eyes of the dark blue suited man trained on her.

“Can I start you guys on anything to drink?”

“I think our palletes may be too sophisticated for this place.” Said the man with the Rolex.

Hange’s smile faltered a bit, and blue suit did not miss the way her jaw clenched.

“A Chardonnay for the table is just fine.” He said , locking eyes with Hange for a few seconds.

Hange blinked before slipping back on her fake smile.

“Of course, are any of you also ready to order?”

“I think we’ll start with the wine first.” The blonde said with a warm smile.

Hange nodded before slipping her notepad and pen back into her apron pocket.

“I’ll be right out with the wine, once again my name is Zoe. Let me know if any of you fellas need anything, okay?”

Blue suit nodded in thanks before she departed and headed back into the kitchen with a bitter taste in her mouth.

“Did they order anything yet, Hange?” Nanaba said once she walked through the swinging kitchen doors.

“Chardonnay.” Hange said bluntly.

“That bad huh?”

Hange wrinkled her nose, “I’m pretty sure one of them sneaked dissed the place.”

Nanaba laughed.

“One of them is nice to look at though.” Hange muttered before grabbing the bottle of Chardonnay that Nanaba handed to her.

“Thanks.” Hange grunted before making her way back out to the dining room.

“Award winning smile Hange!” Nanaba called out after her, Hange just shook her head before plastering said smile back onto her face.

“Here you fellas are, Chardonnay. Just what the doctor ordered!” Hange announced, presenting the bottle to the men as if it were some rare peice of art. Hange didn’t miss they way it made the man in the blue suit’s lips twitch upwards slightly. She gave herself a pat on the back for that one.

After uncorcking the bottle she poured an appropriate amount in each of the men’s glasses, then set the bottle on the middle of the table.

“I’ll leave it here for y’all to enjoy.” She said before straightening up and pulling out her own and notepad. “Let me know when you’re ready.”

The beady eyed man ordered a thick cut wagyu style steak, while the brown haired man ordered a lobster pasta. The blonde haired man ordered a lemon grass sea bass and the man in the blue suit ordered a chicken cacciatore with an order of black tea.

“Anything else for you fellas?” Hange asked brightly after expertly reciting their orders to them, she didn’t even need to writes it down.

“Perhaps a side of you?” Beast eyes teased.

It took everything in her power not to outwardly cringe at the man’s remarks, instead she just chuckled condescendingly at him.

“Sorry we’re all out!” She joked.

The man in the blue suit almost choked on his whine at her comeback.

Filled with sudden courage, Hange lightly slapped at his back as he coughed.

“I’m here all night folks.” She said, earning a scowl from the blue suit. “Geez tough crowd.”

The blonde man chuckled from beside him.

Hange stepped back, “your food will be out in a couple of minutes, in the meantime enjoy the wine.” She said before heading back into the kitchen and yelling out the order to the people on the grill line.

Hange sighed before grabbing a cup of water and chugging it down.

“Heard Nana gave you the special table.” Mike Said as he slid next her her, leaning against the ice machine.

Hange grunted as she crunched on a cube of ice.

“Hey at least the tip will be good.” Mike teased.

Hange threw a small price of ice at him, which he dodged while chuckling lightly. The man then sniffed the air before whirling around violently.

“That better not be cayenne pepper in my risotto, Kirstein!”

Hange giggled before drying her hands on her apron.

“Ah-uh Ms.Hange?” A voice spoke from behind her, making her twirl around.

“Oh Sasha, hi!” Hange greeted once she recognized the young girl. Sasha was one of their hosts, she worked here as part time because she was still in school like a lot of their other employees.

“One of your guests would like to speak with you.” The teen said awkwardly, fidgeting in the spot she stood in.

“Don’t tell me it’s from table five?” Nanaba popped up from behind Sasha, slightly scaring the girl in the process.

“Ah y-yeah, he’s waiting outside.” She said and Nanaba groaned before thanking and shooing Sasha away, she then turned to look at Hange questioningly.

“I didn’t do anything, they seemed satisfied.” Hange said, throwing her hands up defensively.

Nananba sighed, “pray it’s good news.” She said before going to assist Mike.

Hange presses the heel of her palm against her forehead and groaned before pushing her way out of the kitchen.

She immediately freezes when she sees that it’s the man in the blue suit waiting for hear near the restrooms. First she realizes how short he is, second she notices that he in fact did not look happy. Hange was mentally kicking herself to think of anything she could’ve done to upset them. Perhaps it was the comeback she made at the beady eyed man? No, the short man seemed to enjoy that remark. Hange sighed in defeat before approaching him catiously.

The man lifts his head up at her when she approaches and before he can say anything Hange goes into apology mode.

“I am so sorry if I did or said anything to offend any of you, I can see to it that part of your check can be compensated.”

The man looks taken aback before frowning at her. Ah, she’s done it now.

“That’s not- look I can to apologize for all the unsavory remarks that my client has made towards you, it deeply embarrasses me,” He looks straight into her eyes. “Zoe.”

Hange almost melts right there onto the dining room floor, but she stays strong.

“Eh, O-oh that? It’s nothing I can’t handle really, it happens quite often.” She dismisses.

Levi’s frown depens.

“It shouldn’t be something that you have to endure.”

She chuckles.

“Thanks for the concern but I can handle myself uh..,”

“Levi.” He introduces himself.

“Ah, nice to finally put a name to that handsome face of yours. You already know my name, my friends like to call me Hange though. It’s my surname, hehe.”

One of Levi’s thin eyebrows quirk up at her sudden comfortableness with him.

“Did you tell them that you were coming to apologize?” She asks him cocking her head to the side.

“No, I told I went to powder my nose four-eyes.”

Hange’s face broke into an amused grin.

“Oh that’s new, if I didn’t know any better I would say you’re flirting with me.” She teased.

“So we’re on the same page then.” He scoffed.

“Glad to see that chivalry isn’t dead.” Hange laughed.

Levi crossed his arms over his chest.

“Are you actually interested or are you just looking for another source of income?”

Hange snorted loudly to keep from laughing too loudly, fear of disturbing the other guests.

“Oh, that was good.”

He grins, “I’m better.”

His voice becomes husky and Hange’s jaw almost drops at his boldness.

“I’ll just leave my number of the table then. It’ll be there if you want it, no pressure.” He says giving her a coy look before heading back to his table.

She just stands there for a minute, trying to figure out what just happened before going back into the kitchen.

“So he finds you attractive and wants to give you his number, so what?” Nanaba says, chewing on a peice of garlic bread.

After her encounter with Levi Hange had went to check on their food, it was ready so she brought it out to the table with the help of Armin, another young server.

Levi kept his eyes on her the whole time as she placed his meal in front of him, that sneaky bastard.

He smirked when he noticed the way the tips of her ears and cheeks tinged pink underneath his unwavering gaze as she poured iced water into their extra glasses.

So he wanted to play this kind of game? Oh, Hange will play along too.

Mustering up every once of courage she had inside, she locked eyes with him.

“Any dessert for later?” She teased with sultry eyes.

Levi held her stare with his own and smirked before licking his lips.

“I think we’ll eat our meals first, thank you.” The blonde man next to Levi piped up, lips twisted into a knowing grin.

The two men that sat in front of Levi and the blonde shared a confused glance.

“Ah o-of course, enjoy your meal gentlemen.” Hange stuttered before grabbing her serving tray and scurrying her way back into kitchen, of course she felt Levi watch her leave.

“I don’t know,” Hange said to Nananba, who broke a peice of her bread and gave it to her. “I just- don’t you think maybe he’s a bit out of my league?”

Nananba laughed out loud, almost choking on her bread.

“Hange, if anything, he’s out of your league. You’re really smart, funny, hard working and you’re beautiful in your weird Hange way.”

Hange snorted, popping her peice of bread into her mouth.

“Wow thanks, I truly feel beautiful.” She said sarcastically.

Nanaba lightly slapped her on the shoulder.

“You know what I mean!”

The both giggles together and for a second it reminded Hange of their days in high school, Hange smiles fondly at the memories.

“I don’t know... maybe I’ll indulge him.” Hange admitted softly, chuckling at Nanaba who wiggles her eyebrows at her suggestively.

After frequently checking on their table, the men finally finished their meal and decided to skip dessert.

“Thank you for dining with us gentlemen, we sure hope you’ll frequent with us in the future.” Hange bid them a farewell as they thanked her and each got up a walked out to the valet.

Levi trailed behind idly, waiting for his campanions to walk out through the glass double doors before approaching her.

“My number is in the checkbook,” he told her, light eyes scanning her face carefully before running his fingers through his fringe.

Hange notice how soft and shiny his hair looked, she had the urge to sink her own fingers into it. That though made her blush slightly and tighten her grip on the tray in hands.

“By the way, your face looks constipated when you flirt, four-eyes.” He said with a tiny smirk before turning to leave.

Hange’s face flamed as she quickly turned to grab the checkbook off of the table.

She opened it and almost choked on her own spit.

Yes his number was there, written on a small square napkin, but that wasn’t what shocked her.

There sitting innocently behind the napkin were five crisp twenty dollar bills.

Hange was puzzled, their bill was already paid for by credit card, just shy of sixty dollars. This must be her tip, Hange gaped.

Hell no, there’s no way. No one in their right mind would tip her this much, no matter how good she was.

Scooping the bills into her hand, she made a beeline out the door.

“Hey!” She called out to Levi, who was about to enter a shiny black Benz.

He paused before speaking inside the car to the driver and stepping back to close the door. He turned to her as she approached him with the money.

“Did I forget something?” He teased with a questioning raise of an eyebrow.

“Yea this.” Hange huffed, shoving the bills towards his unsuspecting face.

His smirk fell into a bored expression when he saw the money.

“That’s yours.” He said bluntly.

“This is way too much, way passed fifty percent!” She yelled.

“And you’re complaining?” Levi asked, frowning at her loud volume.

“Because it’s too much!” She whined.

Levi sighed.

“Look, the service was great, keep it.” He said, attempting to placate her.

Of course it didn’t.

Hange shook her head stubbornly. “If you enjoyed it, you tip me the appropriate amount.” She argued as she took one of the bills in her free hand before shoving the rest into one of his.

He made a ‘tch’ sound before grabbing her hand and shoving the money back in it.

“Stop being so stubborn, shitty glasses.”

Hange made an annoyed sound in the back of her throat before gripping his larger hand and shoving the money back into it.

“If im being stubborn then you’re being childish, calling me names you short ass grump!”

People were starting to stare at the pair as they went back and fourth, it was making Levi a bit uncomfortable.

“You’re making a scene four-eyes, just take the fucking money.” He hisses at her

“I’m not a charity case you asshole!” She hisses back.

Finally, Levi has had enough. He huffed before finally taking the money from her and letting go of her hand.

“Fine. Here take this,” He said as he gave her one of the bills and pocketed the rest, lofting a hand up before she could protest. “ you can make it up by going on a date with me.” He finished in a flat tone.

Hange gaped at him.

“E-Eh?”

“Tomorrow night, be ready by eight sharp. Text me your address, I’ll pick you up.”

Hange blinked a few times before answering.

“I-I work tomorrow.” Goddamnit stop stuttering so hard.

“I’m sure your boss will let you have the day off.” He spoke cooly.

Nanaba did Mike would most definitely want her to go, but she didn’t want him to know that.

“I can work something out.” Hange said with feigned disinterest.

“Good.” Levi said before reaching a hand out to her.

Hange stared at it in confusion.

“Your glasses,” he said. “Their filfthy.”

“Oh.” Hange muttered dumbly before removing her wire rimmed glasses and handing it to him.

He carefully took the from her and pulled out a handkerchief, wiping the lenses precariously. Hange just stood their squintly slightly at his blurry image.

When Levi finished he pocketed the hankerchief before leaning up to glide the frames back onto her nose.

Hange’s breath caught in her throat as she locked eyes with the shorter man, highly aware how close his face was to hers. She blushed as he tucked some of her stray hair behind her hair. They’re both frozen in place, getting lost in each other’s soft gaze.

Then hange thinks of something really funny and snorts.

“What the hell are you laughing at?” Levi glares at her.

“It looks like you could use some magnesium citrate.” She giggles.

“Hah?” Levi mutters, and looks at as if she’s grown a second head or something.

“Because you also look constipated when you try to flirt.” She finished before bursting out in full laughter.

Levi rolls his eyes before pulling away from her and heading back to his car.

“Just be ready by eight, four-eyes.” He calls out to her over his shoulder.

“Aye, captain.” Hange responds before he disappears into the vehicle and drives away.

Hange smiles dreamily like a school girl before looking down at her hand.

Her face falls when she realizes that the there’s another twenty behind the one he gave her.

“Goddamnit shorty!”

#levi ackerman #levihan #aot #attack on titan #hange zoe #levi x hanji #hanji zoe #levi x hange #shingeki no kyojin #snk #mikenana #mike zacharias #nanaba #sasha braus #eren yeager #jean kirschstein #armin arlert #levihan fanfiction

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ketoconnect · 4 years

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Keto Food Pyramid

Keto Food Pyramid: High Fat, Low Carb Food List [What to Eat, Drink & Avoid]

Do you remember that food pyramid a lot of us were taught in elementary school? Not only has the government done away with the traditional food pyramid, but there is now a healthier alternative: the Keto Food Pyramid.

If you’re on a high-fat, low-carb meal plan like the ketogenic diet (AKA keto), this keto food pyramid is a must. It’s easy to understand, and it’s vital to keeping true to your low carb lifestyle.

Stick to this pyramid as you create your weekly keto grocery list, and your body will thank you.

Our Keto Diet Food Pyramid

This keto food pyramid is designed to get your body into a state of ketosis (and stay there).

Ketosis occurs when your body doesn’t have enough carbohydrates (sugar) to produce energy, so it instead turns to fat burning for energy. These fat cells are used to create ketones, which many scientists agree are more efficient energy sources than carbs.

What are the food groups on the keto food pyramid?

When adhering to a keto diet, there are low-carb food choices you should gravitate towards:

# Healthy fats

# Fatty proteins

# Non-starchy vegetables

# Certain cheeses, nuts, and seeds

# A little bit of fruit

However, this keto diet food pyramid also clarifies foods to avoid:

# Sugar

# Bread

# Pasta

# Vegetable oils

Healthy Fats and Oils

Most important to the keto food pyramid are healthy fats and oils. Around half of your calories should consist of these high-quality fats.

What are healthy fats? Well, the word “fat” can be a scary word. But that’s just because of the hard work of the sugar industry from the past seventy years. Fats are necessary to your body’s proper function. Low-fat diets are less efficient for weight loss, compared to low carb diets. Plus, a ketogenic diet supports heart health significantly better than low-fat options.

Also, look for fats that derive from animals, like butter and tallow. These incredibly nutrient-dense foods get a bad rep from misleading “science” about the dangers of saturated fats, but they’re great for feeling full and getting plenty of important nutrients in addition to good macro balance.

Plus, animal fats are the richest sources of heart-healthy vitamin K2, which many people are deficient in.

These are some of the best fat sources, when you’re on a keto diet:

# Ghee

# Grass-fed butter

# Tallow

# Lard

# Bone marrow or bone broth

# Extra virgin olive oil

# Cod liver oil

# Coconut oil

# Avocado oil

# Sesame oil

# MCT oil

You may notice several keto-friendly oils on this list. Whether you cook in these oils or use them as an ingredient, the above oils are your best friends.

Steer clear of vegetable oils. Despite their healthy-sounding name, vegetable oils have been linked with inflammation. This affects everything from your immune system to your heart health.

Fatty Proteins

Fatty proteins are important to the keto food pyramid and the body’s nutritional needs. Proteins are macronutrients, the building blocks of our bones, muscles, skin, and blood.

But there’s this common misconception — probably the most common among new keto dieters. Many try to get their bodies into a state of ketosis with the same amount of protein as fat — fifty-fifty. Unfortunately, it’s pretty hard to get into ketosis with that ratio. Keto is very importantly a moderate-protein, not a high-protein, diet.

How much protein should you eat in a meal while on keto? Aim for 25 percent protein with 75 percent fat. A typical keto meal includes about four or five ounces of protein.

Fatty fish, seafood, fattier chicken cuts, and eggs have moderate protein content while balancing with plenty of fat:

# Salmon

# Catfish

# Cod

# Shellfish

# Oysters and clams

# Eggs

# Chicken (thighs, wings, or legs)

Fish are also rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which come with their own health benefits, like improved heart and mental health.

There are also fatty cuts of red meat that you should regularly add to your meals:

# Veal

# Steak

# Lamb

# Pork

# Salami and pepperoni

Just like with your healthy fats, it’s important to know where your proteins are sourced from. Grass-fed beef and wild caught fish are two examples of quality sourced meats. On the other hand, salami and pepperoni are technically keto-friendly but carry some risks as ultra-processed foods.

Although you can tweak your macros to include lean meats, like chicken and turkey, without dropping out of ketosis, we’ve found that avoiding these is usually simpler. Super lean meats with high protein levels but no fat are more difficult to work into a normal keto diet meal plan. If you eat keto, swap breasts out with thighs, wings, or legs.

Non-Starchy Vegetables

Vegetables are rich in nutrients. They are important to every person’s overall health. We definitely want to keep non-starchy vegetables on our plate when we’re on the keto diet when we can, although different peoples’ need for vegetables may be higher or lower than the next person.

But many vegetables are not low-carb vegetables. Starchy veggies like potatoes, corn, and carrots are relatively high in carbohydrates. We instead look to the low-carb vegetables.

You may have heard avocados touted as a “superfood” in the past. Well, this is where the avocado’s magic powers are strongest.

Avocado is a tasty vegetable (sometimes considered a fruit) that is very low on carbs — mainly because it’s so high in fiber, and you have to subtract fiber from carbs to get your “net carbs”. Avocados also come with a host of unique benefits: healthy heart, healthy brain, and preventing diabetes.

What are the best vegetables to eat when on keto?

# Avocados (a staple of most keto diets!)

# Leafy greens, like spinach and kale

# Bell peppers

# Tomatoes

# Cauliflower

# Broccoli

# Asparagus

# Zucchini

# Eggplant

# Garlic

# Cayenne

# Celery

Don’t rely too heavily on vegetables. But a small portion of non-starchy veggies at every meal is ideal for low carb diets like keto.

Cheeses, Nuts, and Seeds

Another group of foods to have a little bit of every day is cheeses, nuts, and seeds. An odd pairing, yes, but these three foods have two things in common:

1. Cheeses, nuts, and seeds can all serve as keto-friendly snacks throughout the day.

2. Cheeses, nuts, and seeds should not be eaten in high quantities, but small amounts here and there are perfectly acceptable.

Unlike milk, cheese is low-carb and high in fat. Unprocessed cheeses like cheddar, mozzarella, cream, goat, and bleu are often best for digestion.

When looking for keto-friendly dairy products, make sure it’s full-fat dairy with close to zero carbs. Beyond cheeses, think about adding full-fat sour cream or Greek yogurt to your keto diet.

Should you go nuts for nuts? Yes!

Can I plant a seed in your mind about seeds? “Pro-seed,” I imagine you are saying. (See what we did there?)

Like most snacks, make sure you consume small portions. One or two ounces of these nuts and seeds should act as a great snack:

# Pecans

# Macadamia nuts

# Walnuts

# Hazelnuts

# Almonds

# Pistachios

# Cashews

# Peanuts

# Pili nuts (some of our favorites — these are 0-carb and super high in fat!)

# Brazil nuts

# Flaxseeds

# Chia seeds

# Hemp seeds

# Sunflower seeds

# Sesame seeds

Keto Friendly Fruits

You may think fruits have too much sugar to be keto friendly. Yes, fruits have natural sugars and can be slightly addictive. However, a few lower-carb fruits shouldn’t push you over your daily carb limit. And their health benefits are too good to pass up.

Here are some other fruits that have less than 10 grams of net carbs in a one-cup serving:

# Lemons

# Limes

# Blackberries

# Raspberries

# Strawberries

# Coconuts

Fruits are the smallest part of the keto food pyramid. If you’re not careful, fruits can kick you out of ketosis. Eating fruits can spike your blood sugar, and they don’t make you feel full for very long.

Fruits are filled with micronutrients. Nature has crafted fruits into something that we really want to eat. But make sure you keep fruits to a minimum when you’re on a low carb diet.

What to Drink on Keto

You need to stay hydrated! But with all these restrictions, what can you drink while on keto?

Water. Every day. Water is your new best friend. Find a good deal on a reusable BPA-free water bottle and keep it filled each day.

Although water is the absolute best liquid for anyone to drink — whether on keto or not — there are some other low carb drinks you can look for (some of which are great fat sources):

# Bulletproof (butter) coffee

# Sparkling water

# Tea

# Coffee

# Dry wines

# Hard liquors (in moderation)

# Bone broth

# Non-dairy milk alternatives

Obviously, all of these drinks must be unsweetened to qualify as low carb.

The best teas to drink are turmeric tea and green tea. Green tea is a potent antioxidant that may promote heart health. Black tea is also great for keeping macros in check and boosting your caffeine intake for the day (it’s what is served at most restaurants).

A popular variation on coffee among keto dieters is something called bulletproof coffee. Simply put, this means you add ghee (or butter) to your coffee, often paired with MCT oil.

When looking for non-dairy milk alternatives, check the net carbs. For instance, sweetened and unsweetened almond milk are right next to each other on the shelf, and only one of them is good for a low-carb diet plan.

High Carb and Other Foods to Avoid

Now that you have the keto food pyramid at your fingertip, its helpful to look at a list of “don’ts” when it comes to the keto diet.

Obviously, we’re avoiding carbs here. So here are some food choices that are high in sugars or carbohydrates in general:

# Bread

# Pasta

# Added sugar (refined or raw)

# Honey

# Pizza

# Fries

# Beans

# Rice

# Condiments high in sugar

# Higher carb fruits, such as apples or bananas

# Starchy vegetables like corn, potatoes, and carrots

# Hot dogs, hoagies, and hamburgers (because of the buns)

As far as drinks are concerned, do not drink sugary beverages, including sodas and sugary alcoholic drinks. Also avoid fruit juices and milk because of their sugar content.

Technically speaking, diet sodas are low carb. However, avoid them like the plague. Actually, the artificial sweeteners in diet sodas can have a few downsides in common with the plague.

In Summary

# The keto food pyramid offers an easy-to-understand visual of what to eat and what to avoid when you’re trying to maintain a state of ketosis.

# Focus on healthy fats, proteins, non-starchy vegetables, cheeses, nuts, and seeds.

# Avoid sugary foods and drinks, bread, pasta, milk, and fried foods.

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#Keto Food Pyramid #Keto Diet Food Pyramid #Low Carb Food List #ketoconnect

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